I Not God, Stop Acting Like It, Trying to Please Everyone!

In review of Ecclesiastes 10:15 it says, “Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work” (GNT).

Today’s verse is Ecclesiastes 10:15. In it Solomon makes the statement that “Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.”

Today I am reminded that I’m not God. I don’t have all the answers. I can’t do everything. If I’m struggling to find balance in my life, that one admission can transform everything. The Bible says, “Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work” (Ecclesiastes 10:15 GNT).

It’s just plain dumb to wear myself out with work. When I overwork, I’m playing God. I’m saying that it all depends on me, that the world will crash down around if I don’t keep the world spinning. That’s just not true! I’m not the general manager of the universe. I can resign. The universe will not fall apart. God has it under control. Often one of reasons I do this to myself is that I try to please everyone. Learn this lesson today: I can’t please everyone. Even God can’t please everyone! One person wants it to rain. Someone else wants it to be sunny. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. When I live for the expectations of others, I pile on myself tons of “shoulds.” I end up telling myself, “I should work more hours,” “I should go to this seminar,” or “I should volunteer for this assignment.”

I need to realize this: No one is holding a gun to my head. Overworking is my choice. I choose to take on the extra work or to not take it on. And I choose the consequences that come with that choice. When I deny my humanity and try to do it all, I’m robbing God of his glory. The Bible reminds me in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (NIV).

Paul reminds me that I’m a human being. I’m feeble and fragile. Jars of clay break easily. If I drop them, they shatter. Clay pots have to be handled appropriately and with care. If not, they’ll be destroyed. But the good news is that through my feebleness, the power and glory of God shines through. My humanity isn’t something to hide. Instead let’s celebrate the power of God working through my limitations. So admit it: I’m human. Thank God for that!

Bottom Line:

Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work

Only a fool wears himself out with work.

What this means to me:

It’s foolish for me to take on a lot of work, trying to please everyone, to the point that I do not have any strength left.

Father thank you for the reminder that it’s foolish for me please everyone. I need to let you be in control and to guide me in what I am to do. I pray this morning Father for you wisdom in to do this and to think though tasks at hand and be able to manage and delegate them. Also give me the wisdom to respond rightly to others. In Jesus name, amen!

Learning to Let Jesus Help Lighten My Load

In review of Matthew 11:28-30 it says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (RSV).

Bottom Line:

Yoke up with Jesus, he will help lighten your load and provide you rest.

What this means to me:

I can (and should) ask Jesus to join me in the load I have. When I come to him with it, he teaches me through his example. Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart. Following his example and yoking up with him provides peace. He makes it easier and helps to lighten the burden.

When I come to him, Jesus will give me rest. He tells me to take up a yoke with him. When I do, he teaches me. I can follow his example, for He is humble and gentle at heart. Doing so will help me find rest for my soul. For the yoke I share with Jesus is easy to bear, and he helps make the burden much lighter.

Jesus helps free up the pressure from burdens only if I let him. The rest he promises is love, healing, and peace with God, not the end of all labor. A relationship with him changes meaningless, wearisome toil into spiritual productivity and purpose.

Responsibilities I have and take on will weigh me down. Even the effort of staying true to God. Jesus' yoke remains easy compared to the crushing alternative.

Also, It’s important for me to remember that Jesus doesn't offer a life of luxurious ease, the yoke itself is still an oxen's tool for working hard. But it is a shared yoke, with weight falling on bigger shoulders than mine. Someone with more pulling power is up front helping. Suddenly I'm participating in life's responsibilities with a great Partner, and now that frown can turn into a smile, and that gripe into a song.

So when I carry burdens and they are weighing me down, the answer is to do what Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 RSV).

For many years I never understood that verse, because I didn’t know what a yoke was. When Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you,” On the surface it sounds like taking up a yoke would just be something else to deal with. My burden is already heavy enough, I don’t need to take extra weight. However, a yoke is actually a board that has two arches in it that you put over two cattle so they can pull a cart.

The value of a yoke is that it halves the load. Without a yoke, one cow has to pull that entire load by itself. But if you yoke up the cow with another cow, then the two cows pull the load together, and the load is half as heavy.

When Jesus says to take his yoke upon you, he’s not saying he’s going to give me extra problems. Jesus doesn’t have any problems! He’s saying he’s going to share your problems. He’s going to share your load. He’s going to take your stress on himself and bear it with you.

Wow! Jesus uses three verbs in this verse: come, learn, and take. Jesus says, “Come to me. Team up with me. Then, learn how I do it. Take on a lighter load. This is going to reduce my stress. This is going to make it easier for me to navigate.”

When I’m yoked with Christ, I move together with him. I move in the same direction and at the same speed. And I move in the right direction and at the right speed.

Today, with my new role, I do feel a lot of responsibility and load from the pressure. I’m now part of an organization / team that needs some tuning and changes to remedy some problems and processes that are not effectively dealing with the work at hand. I have some underlying culture and communications style’s that also requires shaping. Unfortunately I have been just reacting to issues of the past, in-efficient work habits and only slowly illustrating some changes by example. But unfortunately I’ve been also doing this on my own strength. As I start my second month at my new company today, it’s time for me to yoke up with Jesus, and start leading in a manner that will help bring about the changes that are needed. I pray this morning, “Jesus I am ready to come to, team up and learn from you and your example what I need to do to make a positive change for your people. Amen”

When I’m Tired And Need Rest

In review of Matthew 11:28 it says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Bottom Line:

All who are weary and burdened, come to Jesus, for He will give you rest.

What this means to me:

Jesus invites me to come to Him, When I give him all of my heavy burdens and weariness He provides me rest.

Todays verse comes from the last part of Matthew 11. In it, Jesus promises rest for our souls. Jesus however starts out by denouncing the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn't repented of their sins and turned to God. He indicates that it will be worse for them because they saw and it did not change their hearts. Jesus then thanks the father for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Jesus tells us that the Father has entrusted everything to Him. No one truly knows the Father except the Son and to those the Son choose to reveal himself to. Then Jesus invites us to, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, for He will give us rest. We are to take his yoke upon us, and let him teach us. Because He is humble and gentle at heart, and in Him we will find rest for their souls. For his yoke is easy to bear, and the burden He gives us is light.

From what I understand, in the Old Testament times, to know someone meant more than head knowledge; it implied an intimate relationship. For anyone to know God, God must reveal himself to that person, by the Son's choice. How fortunate I am that Jesus has chosen to clearly reveal God to me, as well as his truth.

The yoke that Jesus refers is much like the yoke, a heavy wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of an ox or oxen. It is attached to a piece of equipment the oxen are to pull. A person may be carrying heavy burdens of (1) sin, (2) excessive demands, (3) oppression and persecution, or (4) weariness in the search for God. Jesus frees people from all these burdens. The rest that Jesus promises is love, healing, and peace with God, not the end of all labor. A relationship with God changes meaningless, wearisome toil into spiritual productivity and purpose.

Jesus doesn't offer a life of luxurious ease- the yoke is still an oxen's tool for working hard. But it's a shared yoke, with weight falling on bigger shoulders than my own. Someone with more pulling power is up front helping. Suddenly I am participating in life's responsibilities with a great Partner-and now that frown can turn into a smile, and that grip into a song.

So, when I find myself exhausted, and life is dragging me down, I can turn to God who says “Come to Me If you're tired”

Eliminate Stress By Giving up Control

In review of Matthew 11:29-30 it says, “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”

Bottom Line:

Take up his yoke and learn from him. He is gentle and humble. In him you will find rest.

What this means to me:

I should learn to take Jesus yoke, put it on, and then learn from him. He is gentle and humble in spirit and I will find rest in him. The assistance Jesus gives when I yoke together with him makes it easier and lightens up my load.

The overload I experience in life is likely because I’m trying to contol way too much. I think, it all depends on me. “If it’s to be, it’s up to me. I’ve got to hold it all together. I’ve got to make it all work.”

What I’m reminded of is that, while I’m an operations manager at work, I’m not the operations or general manager of the universe. The more control I try to exercise over the universe, the more stressed out I’ll get.

Today’s passage reminds me that Jesus has a different plan for me, he says to: “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 NIV).

It sounds a bit contrary to take something else on, especially if I’m already carry too much.  

Part of what Jesus is referring to, relates to farming, something everyone at that time could understand. A “yoke” is a single piece of wood that brings two farm animals together, so the load is shared. A yoke is not a harness. You put a harness on one cow or one horse, and it has to pull the whole load. With a yoke, you team up two or more animals so the load is halved. It is lightened. The purpose is to make it easier on the animal, not harder.

What I’m learning is that when Jesus says to take his yoke, he’s saying, He never meant for me to carry all my problems on my own. He is telling me to let him help. To team up with and partner with him. He will help me carry the load.”

So, if I’m feeling stressed, it means I’m not fully yoked to Jesus Christ. Stress is a warning sign/indicator that tells me I’m trying to control things and carry too much on my own.

Every time I get disconnected from Jesus, the stress is going to go up in life. But if I get reattached and yoked up, he’s going to help me pull the load.  As a result the stress will go down.

Often when we feel stressed, we think we need a break or escape. This may help temporarily, however the stress is there when I get back.  Often I can end up taking my stress with me because it’s in my mind. So I can be just as stressed lying on a white sandy beach as I am right in the middle of problems at home.

I believe God is saying the answer to stress is to give up control. Every time I give up control, God grants me peace. Today, I will consider how I can share my burden (get yoked up) with him.