“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 11:29-30
Yokes are not something that people talk about today. Today, farmers use tractors to plow their fields rather than a pair of oxen.
Yokes were used to keep two oxen together. When a farmer was training a younger ox, he would pair it up with an experienced ox using the yoke. This forced the younger to follow the other and learn how to pull the plow correctly.
Jesus asks you to take up His yoke if you want to learn from Him. He will take you alongside of Him and guide you in how to live life and do the will of God.
Notice that Jesus stated He is gentle and humble. He will not be a hard task-master. He will not beat you every time you make a mistake.
You may have had a boss at one time in your life that was a task-master. He would drive you very hard and insist on only perfection and beat you when you did not do right.
Jesus does demand perfection, but He will work with you to get there. He realizes that you are not perfect and need to be built up little by little.
It is easy to follow Jesus when you set your mind and heart to it. His burden is also light. You do not have to save the world or even a city. All you have to do is what God places before you, and none of that is taking away sins like Jesus did.
Notice, however, that Jesus said this would give you rest for your souls, not necessarily for your physical body. In this life you will get tired and the work may be long and hard, but your soul can rest in the fact that you are following God correctly. Jesus was tired many times when He walked on the earth, yet, it did not stop Him or slow Him down.
Trust Jesus and follow Him. Let Him train you to do God’s will. It will be worth it in the end. Compared to doing things on your own, it will be easy and light work.
I pray today that you will take up the yoke of Jesus; that you will allow Jesus to train you to walk with God; that you will do the work God has for you; and that you will plow the fields for God in order to build His kingdom.
WHY DO CALVINISTS PREACH THE GOSPEL?-BY STEVE FINNELL
Calvinists believe that God predestined each individual whom would receive salvation before the world was created. Is that a clear understanding of Scripture? No, it is not.
Ephesians 1:1-5 ….4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,(NKJV)
Whom did God choose to be adopted as sons? He chose those who would believed and obeyed the gospel.
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (NKJV)
Who were those who were sealed with the Holy Spirit of of promise?
1. Those who trusted in Jesus were sealed.
2. Those who heard the word of truth, the gospel, were sealed.
3. Those who believed were sealed.
They were not predetermined to trust, hear the truth and believed. They had free-will to meet the terms for pardon.
Not one person was saved by grace alone. No one was saved before they believed Jesus was the Son of God. No one was saved before they were immersed in water for the forgiveness of their sins. No one was saved before they confessed Jesus as Lord and Christ. No one was saved before they believed that God resurrected Jesus from the grave. No one was saved before they repented. [John 3:16, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 3:19, Ephesians 2:8, Romans 10:9]
If some men have been individually predetermined for salvation and all other preordained to spend eternity in hell, then why preach the gospel?
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.(NKJV)
Calvinists say faith comes by hearing only if you have been predetermined for salvation.
Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(NKJV)
Calvinists say God individually predetermined who would be allowed to call on the Lord and be saved.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.(NKJV)
Calvinists say the gospel is only for those whom God has individually chosen for salvation.
Calvinists believe God forces His chosen to have faith and believe the gospel. They believe God individually selected most men to not believe in Jesus and to burn in hell.
In effect Calvinist believe God preordained most men to become atheists.
The burning question is why do Calvinists preach the gospel if men are saved by grace alone.
God predestined that Christians would have redemption through the blood of Christ. God did not predestined which individuals would become Christians.
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. (NKJV)
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Thank you for your thoughts, although I do not understand why you made them on this posting. May God guide you and direct your path.