My burden is light.

Hmm

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Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

What do you think that means? When you look at Martin Luther King, Maximilian Kolbe and countless others like them it appears that their burden wasn't so light.

The only thought I have on it really is that it shows that we do have a burden, IOW God has work for us to do.
 

mlepfitjw

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Hello hmmm, Love, and faith. Causes suffering for one; of being steadfast in your walk not ashamed of the Gospel, for two if you have faith, pray, and allow God to help you express the love through your faith by loving God and others, ignoring what the world tells you leaving behind though living in it to get by. Is this a light burden to have in life, while believing on the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by God? Thoughts?
 
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Hmm

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Hello hmmm, Love, and faith. Causes suffering for one; of being steadfast in your walk not ashamed of the Gospel, for two if you have faith, pray, and allow God to help you express the love through your faith by loving God and others, ignoring what the world tells you leaving behind though living in it to get by. Is this a light burden to have in life, while believing on the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by God? Thoughts?

I'd say that believing that there is a God who loves you is a great comfort but it also carries the responsibility to reflect that love out into the world. This could end up costing you your life as it did for the two people mentioned in the OP so there can be a very heavy price to pay. It seems a lot easier in many ways to live a self-centred or a detached kind of life even though that's not so personally rewarding.
 
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mlepfitjw

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Hmm, is living for God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, really a self-centered life? Thank you for your thoughts and comments, I do not know much about the other two men.

Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship.2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
 
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Hmm

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Hmm, is living for God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, really a self-centered life?

I actually meant the opposite, that a hedonistic kind of life is easier in many ways than the religious life.

I do not know much about the other two men.

Kolbe is probably the lesser well-known. He was a Polish Catholic priest who asked to swap places with a young man, who he didn't know, who was in a group of people selected to be starved to death in a cell in Auschwitz. He did this because the young man had children and he did not. I've been to the cell and they keep flowers there to commemorate his sacrifice.
 
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Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. What do you think that means? When you look at Martin Luther King, Maximilian Kolbe and countless others like them it appears that their burden wasn't so light. The only thought I have on it really is that it shows that we do have a burden, IOW God has work for us to do.
Hi Hmm, this verse is part of a short passage, and a longer one too. The short passage is v28-30.

Matthew 11
28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.

If the point of the verse and passage is simply that we have a burden of some kind that we must bear/a work which God assigns us to do that must be completed, then why does He talk about giving us "rest", about giving "rest" to all who are weary and heavy-laden who come to Him as His disciples?

Also, from what kind of "burden" do we find, "rest .. for our souls"?

I suppose the first question should be, what is the "heavy burden" that Jesus is offering to give us "rest" from?

Thanks :)

--David
p.s. - have you read Bunyan's, The Pilgrim's Progress?
 
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mlepfitjw

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Great question David.

Looking at the scripture a bit more closer you added the following two verse beforehand and you haven give a bit more to look at.

28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.


All who are weary and heavy-laden - Could this mean people who live in the world and hard working people, who are always trying to make ends meet along with social issues and world news of whatever may be going on, along with worries about ones families, and whatever else you could think about that comes in this world?

Come to Me, and I will give you rest - Jesus Christ welcomes us to come to him, to find rest. What is this rest we are to be given? Is it resting in comfort of his forgiveness, mercy and love ? Giving the burdens that trouble us from the world and coming to him, and giving it to him to find rest?

Take My yoke upon you and learn from me - You see a choice here to take upon the yoke of Jesus and the choice to learn from him and what he has to say.

For I am gentle and humble in heart - Can you be given rest in receiving a gentle and humble heart from the Lord Jesus?

You will be find rest for your souls - Is the rest by coming to the Lord and giving all our heaviness of life, and weariness of the world and how it can break you down found a we come to Him?

For My yoke is easy and my burden is light - For the Lord desires us to have rest for our souls as we come to him.
I actually meant the opposite, that a hedonistic kind of life is easier in many ways than the religious life.



Kolbe is probably the lesser well-known. He was a Polish Catholic priest who asked to swap places with a young man, who he didn't know, who was in a group of people selected to be starved to death in a cell in Auschwitz. He did this because the young man had children and he did not. I've been to the cell and they keep flowers there to commemorate his sacrifice.

When did you go and make this trip, and did you take pictures ? Sounds very cool hmmm.
 
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Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

What do you think that means? When you look at Martin Luther King, Maximilian Kolbe and countless others like them it appears that their burden wasn't so light.

The only thought I have on it really is that it shows that we do have a burden, IOW God has work for us to do.

Jesus set a sinless example of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law and he did not hypocritically preach something other than what he practiced, so he taught obedience to it both by word and by example, and in Matthew 11:28-30, he was inviting people to take his yoke upon them and learn from him. A "yoke" is a rabbinic term used to describe the way that they taught their disciples to obey the Mosaic Law. By saying that they would find rest for their souls, Jesus was referencing Jeremiah 6:16-19, where the Mosaic Law was described as the good way where we will find rest for our souls. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, it says that the Mosaic Law is not too difficult to obey, and in 1 John 5:3, to love God is to obey His commandments, which are not burdensome.
 
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When did you go and make this trip, and did you take pictures ? Sounds very cool hmmm.

A few years ago now. I took some photos but not of that specifically. The whole experience was very moving. To be in an environment - Auschwitz-Birkenau - in which people were denied all human rights including the right to live makes you realise the inhumanity man is capable of. I know it can have the opposite effect but it confirmed my belief in God. What happened there was absolutely wrong and that absolute is only possible imo if there is a God - otherwise it's really no more than a subjective value judgement.
 
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Hi Hmm, this verse is part of a short passage, and a longer one too. The short passage is v28-30.

Matthew 11
28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.

If the point of the verse and passage is simply that we have a burden of some kind that we must bear/a work which God assigns us to do that must be completed, then why does He talk about giving us "rest", about giving "rest" to all who are weary and heavy-laden who come to Him as His disciples?

Also, from what kind of "burden" do we find, "rest .. for our souls"?

I suppose the first question should be, what is the "heavy burden" that Jesus is offering to give us "rest" from?

Thanks :)

--David
p.s. - have you read Bunyan's, The Pilgrim's Progress?

This is the only other passage in the Bible that speaks about finding rest for our souls, so it is pretty clear what he was referencing:

Jeremiah 6:16-19 Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17 I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ 18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. 19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.
 
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Hmm

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If the point of the verse and passage is simply that we have a burden of some kind that we must bear/a work which God assigns us to do that must be completed, then why does He talk about giving us "rest", about giving "rest" to all who are weary and heavy-laden who come to Him as His disciples?

Also, from what kind of "burden" do we find, "rest .. for our souls"?

I suppose the first question should be, what is the "heavy burden" that Jesus is offering to give us "rest" from?

They are good questions. I haven't really got any good answers except to say I don't know if having no work to do is particularly restful. I've been furloughed because of Covid for several months now and having no work as such to do is quite tiring in a way.

Perhaps a "heavy burden" is something we carry ourselves. Feeling or trusting that God is with you is a help but if the burden is that your family are starving and you can't do anything about it, I'm not sure by how much. I don't think something like that could ever be a "light" burden.
 
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public hermit

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Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

What do you think that means? When you look at Martin Luther King, Maximilian Kolbe and countless others like them it appears that their burden wasn't so light.

The only thought I have on it really is that it shows that we do have a burden, IOW God has work for us to do.

In that passage he says: learn from me, I am gentle and humble of heart. I always took it to mean going through life with kindness, generosity, and with a gentle nature is less of a burden that not. But, perhaps it's more complicated and burdensome than that?
 
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Hmm

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In that passage he says: learn from me, I am gentle and humble of heart. I always took it to mean going through life with kindness, generosity, and with a gentle nature is less of a burden that not. But, perhaps it's more complicated and burdensome than that?

I think that's a great way of thinking about it. I always feel very ill at ease whenever I do something wrong or omitted to do something I should have done until I apologise to the people I've hurt and tried to make up for it. That's not always possible of course - the person may have died for example. But even then we can ask for God's forgiveness and forgive ourselves.
 
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I think that's a great way of thinking about it. I always feel very ill at ease whenever I do something wrong or omitted to do something I should have done until I apologise to the people I've hurt and tried to make up for it. That's not always possible of course - the person may have died for example. But even then we can ask for God's forgiveness and forgive ourselves.

I'm the same way, it really bothers me when I know I have caused harm. That can seem a burden. But, just imagine being the opposite of what Jesus is suggesting. Imagine going through life controlling, angry, trying to always to get one over, afraid of what you might lose, and generally worldly. That seems a terrible burden to carry.
 
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Hmm

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I'm the same way, it really bothers me when I know I have caused harm. That can seem a burden. But, just imagine being the opposite of what Jesus is suggesting. Imagine going through life controlling, angry, trying to always to get one over, afraid of what you might lose, and generally worldly. That seems a terrible burden to carry.

Agreed. By His grace, God does save us from such an awful life. He lifts us out of ourselves. I'm sure He wants to do that for everyone and brings us back to the perennial question I guess:
Why doesn't everyone experience God's saving grace. Is there a response we need to make but aren't doing so?
 
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Why doesn't everyone experience God's saving grace. Is there a response we need to make but aren't doing so?

That is the perennial question isn't it? I don't know the answer. In my mind, the more people who embody the ways of Christ, the more people will be attracted to it. But I've been wrong so many times I just don't know.
 
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But I've been wrong so many times I just don't know.

Seven times I make it so far on this thread (joke!)

That is the perennial question isn't it? I don't know the answer. In my mind, the more people who embody the ways of Christ, the more people will be attracted to it.

I think that probably is the answer! We all have a part to play in building for God's kingdom - only God builds it but we can build for it and God uses our efforts.
 
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I’d like to make a heretical suggestion: Jesus actually meant it.

If you look at how he interpreted the Law, he typically bent it in the direction of people’s good. He objected to the Pharisees’ legalism, which he said was putting burdens on people that they couldn’t carry. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus never set holiness as a goal. Rather, his goal was to be useful to others, “bearing fruit.”

The main problem with this is his talk about the narrow way. But I’d suggest that you look at the Lukan version of the passage (Luke13:22 ff) for the context that’s missing in Matthew. The door was narrow for the people around him at the moment, but in the end the whole world would enter. I would suggest that his way is narrow and the alternatives broad, not because his way is intrinsically burdensome, but because God has one way he wants us to live and people have created many alternatives for themselves (many of which claim to be Christian, unfortunately).

The OP asks about people who have suffered for Christ. When he talked about his burden being light, I don’t think he meant that life would always be easy. The suffering you were talking about isn’t the kind of burden Jesus accused the Pharisees of imposing. It’s not his requirements that are the burden.
 
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Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

What do you think that means? When you look at Martin Luther King, Maximilian Kolbe and countless others like them it appears that their burden wasn't so light.

The only thought I have on it really is that it shows that we do have a burden, IOW God has work for us to do.
Our "burden" is in allowing the indwelling Holy Spirit to work through us, so we are participating with the Spirit, while He is doing the good work.
 
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bling

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I’d like to make a heretical suggestion: Jesus actually meant it.

If you look at how he interpreted the Law, he typically bent it in the direction of people’s good. He objected to the Pharisees’ legalism, which he said was putting burdens on people that they couldn’t carry. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus never set holiness as a goal. Rather, his goal was to be useful to others, “bearing fruit.”

The main problem with this is his talk about the narrow way. But I’d suggest that you look at the Lukan version of the passage (Luke13:22 ff) for the context that’s missing in Matthew. The door was narrow for the people around him at the moment, but in the end the whole world would enter. I would suggest that his way is narrow and the alternatives broad, not because his way is intrinsically burdensome, but because God has one way he wants us to live and people have created many alternatives for themselves (many of which claim to be Christian, unfortunately).

The OP asks about people who have suffered for Christ. When he talked about his burden being light, I don’t think he meant that life would always be easy. The suffering you were talking about isn’t the kind of burden Jesus accused the Pharisees of imposing. It’s not his requirements that are the burden.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but the sting of death has been removed, we can count it all joy when we are persecuted for the Way, we can expect to be challenged to our limit, knowing the good it can bring. We have a huge great wonderful purpose in this life which the non-Christian does not have, so his/her hardship has no value. Christ left us the indwelling Holy Spirit, so do together with the Spirit leading we can do anything.
 
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