Are you tired enough to read this?
I am writing this from Mustang, Oklahoma. I am here with about 130 other youtha nd adults for the 2006 CTCYM Senior High Mission Trip. Following is the devotional I wrote for the work teams for today.
How are you feeling? Are you tired today? It is Wednesday, sometimes called “hump day;” the middle of the week. We are halfway there!
Sometimes Wednesday’s have something happen that frustrates us. We deal with frustration and being tired in a variety of ways. How do you deal with being tired and/or frustrated?
How many of the 10 Commandments can you name? On your best day, how many of them have you kept?
A lot of Christians spend a lot of energy worrying about which commandments they have broken. Most of us are aware, nearly constantly, that we mess up. It makes us tired to think about how many times we have failed or given in to temptation.
Jesus was a rabbi, or teacher. The rabbi’s job was to teach people how to live the way God wanted them to. Each rabbi developed his own set of standards and rules for how his followers, or disciples, could live the way God wanted them to. The set of standards and rules a rabbi taught were called his “yoke.” If a disciple “took on the yoke” of a rabbi, it meant that he or she tried to live the way the rabbi lived and taught.
Jesus said “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Many of the other rabbis of Jesus’ day taught yokes that were hard to follow. They weighed their disciples down with rules and regulations that just wore them out. Then, along comes Jesus, teaching a yoke that is “easy” and “light.”
When you get home, you’ll probably sleep in a little extra for a few days. You may sleep all the way home Saturday. Soon, you will feel well rested. Life will return to normal.
Does “normal” for you mean daily worry about failures and problems? Does “normal” for you mean you worry about whether or not God really does love you and want a friendship with you?
Jesus’ yoke, or way of teaching, is meant to be easy and light, not to weigh you down. It can help with the kind of tired you can’t fight just by sleeping.
posted by Steve Heyduck @ 3:35 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
How do we reconcile these truths with the statement of Jesus in Matthew 5:17-18:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished."
Hmmm. Good question, Josh. The first thought that comes to mind, and probably as far as I'll get tonight, is that the "Law and prophets," perhaps, in Jesus' view were intended not to burden people into the pressure of following and resultant guilt of failing, but as guidance towards how to live in relationship with God.
Hey Steve, that was a great Mission Trip, buncha people though. Are you going to be going with Waxahachie again on CTCYM 2007, I missed your crazy games (Kidding bout the games part). I think you guys did a great job. That church was great aside from the dust upstairs. Even though I didn't get along with one of the girls in my group who was a hypocrite, it was fun.
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