[During 2022, DeacPost will occasionally feature a devotion written for the 1999 LDA Publication: “Celebrating Servants” God’s People at Work”. This devotion has been slightly edited from the original for length. We hope you enjoy!]
‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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 11:28-30
for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28-30It sneaks up on me sometimes-that feeling of heavy burdens. Responsibilities at home, at work, at church, slowly begin to feel onerous. Any or all places of service, can at times become about what I must do, what I must accomplish, and how I must make it right. It can become a lonely place where I feel unequal to the task and overwhelmed.
When my service feels burdensome, I need to hear Jesus’ words, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” I’m not in this alone. It is important to do my part, indeed my utmost, but God’s will is accomplished both through me and beyond me. It’s important to be gentle with myself also, to realize that I am a limited human being. I seek by prayer and meditation to distinguish where I am called to stretch my abilities and where I am to let others in the body of Christ perform their functions. I also respond to and enjoy God’s love and care for me in the gifts of recreation, rest, and the support of others. These are gifts which renew me, fill me, and enhance the quality of my serving. Be humble in heart; Jesus took the servant’s role, not for obligation or accomplishment, but for love. When I am a channel of that love in my serving, my yoke, the yoke of the Gospel, is easy and light.
As Paul reminds us in Romans 6 (vv. 15-23), we work as slaves to sin or as slaves to righteousness. It’s one yoke or the other. But when I take up the yoke of the Gospel in love, I am not alone, not overwhelmed. Rather, I find peace and gladness as a partner in God’s kingdom, living and working to help realize my hope and prayer, “Your kingdom come.”
Prayer: Lord, when service seems a burden, let your love flow into us, fill us, overflow from us, that we may be glad servants in your kingdom. Open our hearts to you in prayer, meditation, and worship, that we may be filled with your love. Open our hearts to others, that we may be your hands, your feet, your voice, and your love made present to those whom we serve. May your kingdom come, Lord, in each of us, through all of us, and eternally. Amen.
Deaconess Janet Conrady, Springfield, IL
