17/10/2022
TAKING UP THE LORD’S YOKE
The difference between a follower of Jesus Christ and a person who's just doing their thing is the yoke. The follower of Jesus takes up the yoke of Jesus daily and this makes all the difference. This influences and shapes who they are and what they do for the Lord.
Genuine, impactful, eternity-driven ministry is born from the personal experience of taking up the Lord’s yoke and bearing His burden. Practically speaking the Lord’s yoke is the living consciousness of God’s government which is fired into a person’s conscience based on their willful submission to Christ’s kingship and lordship.
This consciousness is so strong, definitive and restrictive that it functions exactly like a yoke on two oxen.
It keeps a person constantly hooked to God’s eternal purpose.
It keeps its bearer focused and practically responsive to the operations of God’s government.
It keeps one steady on the course of God’s cause and fully gives the detail of their unique space in the kingdom. It is like a compass that always points a person in the direction of the big picture – God’s eternal purpose. The yoke of the Lord is what translates the objective cross of Christ to one’s personal, subjective cross; making them a practical follower of Christ. Jesus says,
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up HIS [personal] cross daily, and follow Me.( Luke 9:23, NKJV, emphasis added)
This personal cross is called the idiosyncratic cross because it is particular to a person’s experience.
For example, among the Nigerian people, garri, fufu, white amala, and abacha are all food products made from cassava. They all administer carbohydrate to the body when consumed but do not taste the same. That’s how the cross of Christ is. We do not experience it the same way but our different experiences eventually produce the same result – Christ’s enlargement in us.
The Lord’s yoke is the recalibrating tool He uses to redefine a person’s life in the light of His eternal purpose. By this He plucks a person from the path of their ambition and plants them on the path of His will.
Taking up the Lord's yoke makes a believer useful in the Lord's hands. This is immutably true.
No yoke no use, just like an unbridled horse is useless to an equestrian.
