I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
When You Need Support
Everyone carries burdens, and the things we go through shape the way we view the world, and ourselves. But we weren’t meant to carry our burdens alone.
In fact, Jesus says to the people following Him—
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. … For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT
A yoke is a heavy wooden beam that lies across a pair of oxen, evenly distributing the weight of the loads they carry. But the term was also used by Jewish Rabbis. “The yoke of the law” symbolized complete submission to God’s law, and Rabbis taught that becoming yoked to it would free the Jews from enslavement to the world.
Jesus is using a phrase that His Jewish followers would have easily understood, but then He flips the illustration. He tells the crowd that they must yoke themselves to Him—because He is the fulfillment of their law.
When they do this, the burdens they carry won’t be heavy at all—because He will bear the weight of their burdens.
Paul references this teaching in his letter to the Galatian Christians:
“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2 NLT
The law of Christ is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). But the only way we can fulfill the law of Christ is if we bind ourselves to Him. When we are yoked to Jesus, He becomes our source of strength.
He helps us endure hard situations and enables us to walk away from poor decisions. He fills us up with His love so that we can pour His love out onto others. He gives us the capacity to support other Christ-followers just like He supports us.
Just as Jesus bore our sins and suffering, we are called to bear the suffering of others. In this way, we show them the love of Christ and guide them toward Jesus.
Right now, spend a few minutes talking to God about the burdens you need help carrying, and then allow Him to show you the people in your life He wants you to support.
“Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof. Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths. He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them: such ...
