Teachable for the Teacher

October 16, 2019

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

This verse is Jesus talking, and the verse is filled with insight and power. First, Jesus invites us to willingly take His yoke. A yoke is a wooden beam that farmers put on two oxen or another set of animals to enable them to work together. Jesus is giving us an outstanding opportunity. As we go through this life and do the work, as we plow through rough situations, He invites us to team up with Him and let Him share the load with us. His power and strength are limitless!

Second, He asks us to let Him teach us. Did you know a teacher cannot teach unless a student agrees? A student’s mind can be in a thousand different places, he can refuse to do the work, she can just decide this is not important and drop out. Jesus knows this. He gave us the freedom to choose, and He asks us to willingly open up to His instruction, welcoming Him to teach and direct us.

Third, He points out what we need to learn from Him: humility and gentleness. This is who He is. It is what He embodies. He is a fit teacher for us because all we need to be, He is. If you wanted to learn to play golf extremely well, would you rather have Jim Carrey or Brooks Koepka as your teacher? You might instantly lean toward Jim Carrey because of name recognition, but Brooks is the right choice. He is the world’s highest ranked golfer as of October 2019. He embodies what it is to be a golfer. Jesus embodies what it is to have radical, God-pleasing humility and gentleness. The rest of us struggle with pride. We can only learn true humility from Him.

Fourth, His goal for us is soul rest. You know how it is when you are constantly striving and striving; when the goal line seems like it keeps moving farther and farther away. It’s exhausting and demoralizing Jesus doesn’t want that for us. He knows that our human pride will keep us in a senseless, unrewarding pursuit of an elusive goal. When we work with Him, He keeps us at a sustainable pace, with rest for our souls.

Take the yoke.

• Jesus, I want to be on team with You. I take Your yoke today. Help me as I work to remain teachable. Help me learn Your humility and gentleness and get into Your rhythm of production and soul-rest. You are my King. Amen.