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Deep calls to deepWednesday, December 13, 2000
Matthew 11:28 A little further along in this passage Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you...my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He's trying to change my paradigm of rest. I've always been tired because I fight against, I push against, I struggle. It's the way of the world. In Genesis 3, God says to man, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food." So when I rest, I rest from that struggle, and only temporarily...the fight will begin again any moment. But Jesus doesn't pick up my burdens because he feels sorry for me, or because he wants to give me a temporary respite from this awful world. He is talking about something completely new, available only from him. If I put on his yoke, he will show me what flowers and fish (and every other living thing except man) already "know": the natural way of following the path laid out for me. Psalm 119:32 reads, "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." I do not struggle away from this path; it comes to me step by step, and I follow it freely, without second thoughts or obligation, with no self-consciousness or self- doubt. I can be creative without being critical and secure without being self-protective. The rest that Jesus offers promises to change my whole way of life. Lord, I close my eyes and trust my mind, my body, my spirit to you. And you bring peace to my soul. Thank you. |
My mom and dad are 78 years old. They're tired. Margaret and I are 51. We're tired! Our daughter Andi is 14. She walked in from school today, slogging through the snow with a heavy backpack...she was tired!! The third law of thermodynamics says that without outside intervention, everything - everything and everybody - will get tired and lose energy and die.