The Great Invitation (day 5)

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”  Matt 11:29

I said that the invitation in verse 29 was dependent on the one in verse 28, and that it was different, but specific.  So if you aren’t sure what that invitation is I’ll wait while you go back and look at the last couple of days’ posts.

Go ahead.  Really.  I can wait.  I’ll get a cup of coffee.

Ok.  Done?  Good.  Then you know that the rest was given a definition that can be summed up as…

 Identity. 

God giving us Affirmation, Satisfaction, and Power

ASP (not Active Server Pages… for all you programmers out there)

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, when we Come unto [Him], we are now Children of God (affirmation), our debt has been paid (satisfaction), and the Holy Spirit now lives in us (power).

So then, what is rest unto your souls?

What difference does the phrase unto your souls make? 

All the difference.  Because this speaks of bringing purpose to our lives here, now.

The word for souls is also given the meaning of breath and life.  Jesus is saying that He will make your life now, here, before heaven… count.  You will continue to get the answer to the question “Why am I here and what purpose do I have?”

How do we get that?

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me”.  The yoke was a means of keeping the oxen joined.  It had two neck holes.   When the a new ox was brought in, it would be paired with a more experience one so that it could learn how to pull and be trained.  It was in this coming alongside that the new ox became useful.

And it is the same with us.  Jesus carries the load.  He has already walked the road.  We are joined with Him and we learn… but learning is not a passive verb.  It is active.  We need to retain and put to use what we see Him doing, what we hear Him saying.  That is learning.

When we do that… when we join with Him in the work that He is doing, and we retain and put to use what we see Him doing… we get that identity… that identity in Christ.

Get in the harness… take the yoke… He is right there with you.

Do that and get to work…

And you WILL find rest unto your souls.

SDG