For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


Someone in one of the Christian forums posted that although these are the true words of our Lord and Savior -- so why are many of us having a difficult time? He suggested two problems.

1. Where many people struggle with their faith-walk is in the area of sacrifice. While talking may be easy, the possibility of ridicule (sacrifice) is painful. Going on a mission trip is easy, but the cost is, well costly.
   If you're struggling with sacrifice there's a good chance your real problem is selfishness.


2. Perhaps you've been barking up the wrong tree. You might be an a great singer, for example, but if God hasn't called you into a musical ministry then your efforts may be burdensome.

Here is my response:

Matthew 11:30 follows Jesus' very long teaching session in Matthew 6 which includes the following set of verses:

Matthew 6:19-21
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:24-33
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.


In this very long teaching session, Jesus laid out the qualification for his promises. If you do this... I promise you this... "all these things will be given to you as well".

An easy yoke and light burden is the result of "all these things will be given to you as well". You don't have to labor, claw, or cheat to get "all these things"; "all these things will be given to you"; thus, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

To do so, our hearts must be in heaven and not on earth. Thus, our treasures must be in heaven and not on earth, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

Both of the things, that the original forum post mentioned, are struggles with giving up treasures on earth. I think we can all identify more treasures on earth, e.g., a treasure on earth may be a relationship:

Matthew 8:19-22
19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
21 Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
22 But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

It is understood that this disciple's father did not suddenly died and needed to be buried. He is asking that he be allowed to wait until his father die, to respect his father while his father is alive.


But there is an aspect that the original forum post did not address; an aspect that does not deal with treasures on earth. When we become a disciple of Jesus Christ, there will be growing pains.

John 16:19
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'?
20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Currently, we are living in a time when there's a conflict between two kingdoms (God's and Satan's). A product of this conflict (any conflict) is pain. e.g., See the Book of Job.

Unfortunately, we often confuse "having pain" with "not having an easy yoke and not having a light burden". Pain and burden are two different things.

Here's an illustration:

A soldier is seriously injured during a battle and can not move his legs. He is in pain. His buddy carries him out of the battle zone to the evacuation area so that the soldier can be transported to the MASH unit. The burden is on his buddy's back. Likewise, we may have pain, but the burden is on Jesus' back.