“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, NIV)
In case you haven’t heard, Bethpage Black is hard. There is a prominent sign, ubiquitously broadcast during tournament week, that says so:
– WARNING –
The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers
All those initial capital letters aside, you get the idea. You’d better be good to play here. And if you aren’t, the other players on the course are going to notice!
So maybe we’re right in context to ask, during this week of a major championship at the Black, whether it would be appropriate to mount a similar sign warning of the difficulties of life.
The difficulties seem to come from everywhere these days. We create our own trouble, of course, by way of rash decisions or misplaced priorities. And then there is our sin. If the odds are stacked against us, it may well be that we are the ones doing the stacking.
As all this sin and difficulty accelerates, those committed to personal ministry find themselves carrying others’ burdens along with their own.Trouble comes via the curse, as well—the consequences of sin accumulated over time. If you can’t breathe because of the bad air in your big city, it’s not a leap in spiritual logic to say all those airborne contaminants trace their roots to the greed of a 19th Century industrialist. Sin leads to death—of all kinds.
Pain fills our inboxes. My prayer list grows longer each day. Sure, as I get older, my friends are aging, too. But look at the number of physical maladies now common among us that we had rarely heard of before. Young and old alike suffer affliction.
We should add one more trial: the weight of ministry. As all this sin and difficulty accelerates, those committed to personal ministry (that should be you) find themselves carrying others’ burdens along with their own. It would be easiest to cling to our couches and watch the latest diversion, but no one calls that love. If we are going to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we’re going to have to find those others and bless them.
So how is it that Jesus called his yoke easy and his burden light? Remember, our same Lord confirmed that “in this world, you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
Jesus was saying that a life adherent to him is a life free not of difficulty, concern, or pain. Rather, it is a life without confusion. It is a life where the way before us is clear. When we come out from under the weight of the world and live instead under the shadow of the Almighty, he governs us by his wisdom and guides us by his spirit. As citizens of the world, some of the troubles we spoke of earlier will still find us, but they will not come by walking the way of the Lord. On that path, “he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights” (Psalm 18:33).
—
Jeff Hopper
May 14, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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