LEARNING FROM CHRIST

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mat 11:28-30 ESV)

Last week, I referred to this passage in reference to rest. This week, something else caught my attention. In the middle of this passage, we are commanded to learn from Christ. Yes, I mean commanded … an imperative verb has some force behind it. But what caught my attention was how we are to learn from Christ.: we must take His yoke upon us. This means we must be active learners.

Sometimes, we can think of learning as a passive thing. A student may sit for hours listening to a teacher or professor, and may, in fact, learn something. But, when that lesson is put into practice, what was learned theoretically begins to take hold. That’s where homework comes in … it forces us to practice what’s been taught. Eventually, knowledge has to be put into practice. As is so often said, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Once again, learning from Christ is an active thing. Matthew 11:29 tells us that we learn from Christ by actively taking His yoke upon us. But, what does that mean? Well, when two animals are yoked together, they are attached by a wooden beam, and must work together—the yoke keeps them from going different directions and different speeds. It does little if the animals are standing still, but is most helpful when the animals are moving forward.

The same is true of being yoked to Christ. To learn from Him, we must work together with Him. He takes the lead. We go the same direction and speed as He does. We learn His ways by walking in step with Him. If we get out of sync with Christ, we are sure to find ourselves in trouble and unproductive for Him. But, when we live yoked to Him, we are sure to find that His way is the best way. Today, we are yoked to Him through His Word, the Bible. But we must not stand still. We must move forward with Him. As we do, we will find that we can accomplish much more yoked to Him than we could on our own. (Philippians 4:13). Why spend time and energy going in circles when we could be moving forward and learning from Christ? Today, I encourage you to “yoke up,” follow His lead, and learn from Him.

In His grip,
Pastor Decker