IT'S ALL SO SIMPLE!
DO 2848 1/92
--Morning Thoughts
1. Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Mat.11:28-30). I guess He put that in there about being meek and lowly, because pride's a killer! If you're meek and lowly, you can just relax and "find rest unto your souls." (Maria: When you relax, that means you cast your care on the Lord.) Yes. In other words, you don't try to be somebody or anything more than you are, or anything more than Jesus is. He's setting you the example, "Just be meek and lowly and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
2. A yoke is something oxen wear to pull the load. It's well-padded to be easy on the ox, so you can pull your load easily and it doesn't make the load too heavy. If it's too heavy or your yoke isn't easy, it's because you are making it heavy, or you're letting something else make it heavy and hard.
3. See, the yoke is the means by which you pull the load, and the burden is your load, your job. So it should be light and easy. So if you start working too hard and worrying too much, you're getting out of line, because "His yoke is easy and His burden is light." When it's not easy and it's not light, then something's wrong. You should just be meek and lowly, and that makes it a lot easier. You don't have to live up to somebody else's standards, just the Lord's, and His are very low and meek and humble and restful.
4. He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden"--in other words, you're working too hard and your burden's too heavy--"and I will give you rest, for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." If you'll just be meek and lowly like Jesus, your yoke will be easy and your burden will be light, and you'll find rest unto your souls. Thank You Lord!
5. It doesn't take an awful lot. You've just gotta get hitched up and into your harness and remember not to try to do more than you're able or be somebody you aren't, and just start walking and pulling.--And don't pull too hard and don't be overburdened, and you'll find rest to your soul!
6. So if you find out you can't pull it today, it means you're trying to pull too much. Or if you find out it hurts, then your yoke is too tight and you'd better cry for help. If the yoke hurts, it's because you're trying to pull too heavy a load. So all ye that labor too much, too hard and are too heavily laden, relax, be meek and lowly! Quit trying to pull so much, and then the yoke won't hurt, because His burden is light. Be meek and lowly; don't try to be too much, and He will give you rest.
7. Sometimes we let other people make our loads too heavy and our yoke too hard by trying to carry too much of theirs, by trying to help them too much. But if they're not willing to do anything for themselves, or even pull their own share of the load, then you can't do it for them. You just have to let them go their own way and find out the hard way in the bitter school of experience, like the prodigal son.
8. I've found out it's easier to be simple. Theologians and modern education love to be complicated; they love to make it confusing. I have to boil everything down to the bare essentials and make the problem as simple as possible, and then the solution is a lot easier. "Except ye become as a little child," you'll in no wise enter into the wisdom of Heaven (Mat.18:3).
9. So quit trying to make it so hard! Take it easy! Just rest in the Lord. He's meek and lowly like a little child, and that's the way He wants you to be. Little children don't try to get into the big complications of huge issues; they just interpret everything down on their own level, so to them, everything is simple and easy, and they don't try too hard.
10. It all boils down to the same simple solution: Take it easy! Don't work too hard. Don't try to do more than you can. Don't try to be more than you are. Stay humble and lowly, and then you'll find rest to your soul. Keep looking to the Lord--the Light--and His burden is light! "Cast your burden on the Lord and He shall sustain thee," and "bear ye one another's burdens" and don't push others to work too hard or do too much or carry too big a load (Psa.55:22; Gal.6:2).
11. I've got a fairly regular schedule. I work just so long on all my paperwork, and then I just quit! But usually I've got most of it done by that time, thank the Lord, and then I'm able to have time for a little get-out and a little fellowship with others and relax a little, and come back and rest. Praise the Lord! I just try not to overdo, and the way to try not to overdo is to quit trying to do too much. Do what you can and just quit and take it easy, relax, and go to the Lord, for He is meek and lowly and you'll have rest.
12. The Lord really knew how to put it simply. You'll find that in almost all He said. Even in answering the complicated questions of His critics He gave them simple answers. Sometimes His answers were so simple they couldn't understand them, because they were high theologians. That's why they can't always understand us.--We're too shallow for them. They're dragging on the bottom. They have to get out in the deep water to be happy.
13. Me, I just sort of wade around in the shallows! It's so much easier, and I can see so much better. I can see the bottom. And I find a lot of very interesting things in those simple little shallows. Play around in the shallows! Have fun, like little children wading, being thrilled over every little discovery right on the surface. Play! Have fun! Keep it simple! Don't try to be too deep, or you may drown!--Do you?
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