The Lord Jesus Christ declared, “Come to Me, all you 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. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 8:28,29
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser… Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:1,4,5
.
.
Occasionally I come across Christians who describe their Christian life as one of difficulty and burden. They portray their life as one of sacrifice and service for a period of time only to halt with exhaustion from such a heavy load. Their Christian life is basically described as a hard life!
But Christ speaks of an entirely different quality of life, one that He calls easy and light. He invites all who have come to Him for salvation to stay with Him for His strengthening and His satisfying. Christ who is our salvation desires to be to us our sanctification on a moment-by-moment basis.
Spiritual exhaustion and burnout indicates dependence upon self rather than Christ, since the true Christian life is the very life of Christ accessed. Sure, you can be saved and united with Christ due to salvation, yet forfeit His life of victory and power by drawing from another source other than Christ. A life characterized by regular defeat with sporadic moments of victory would indeed be a difficult and hard life because it is not Christ’s life.
The Christ-filled life is one of complete victory — [“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Cor. 15:57], since it is Christ’s life alone that is our victory! Victory is a Person (See Col. 3:4; 1 John 5:11)!
This dynamic life of power cannot be obtained by any amount of striving. Entrance into the Christian life was not gained by effort of self, nor can this easy life of Christ be lived by any effort of self. If you are struggling, you are not trusting. Christ’s easy life can only be a reality within us as we allow Him to live His life through us. We are weak and we will always be weak, while Christ is strong and will always be strong. Access His easy life by depending upon Him!”
.
Sources:
Deep Fire: Daily Challenges for a Burning Heart. ed, Harold Vaughan – www.christlifemin.org
Faith Lifts: Finding Life’s Vital Connection … God, by Dr. Billy Ingram
Introductory and bracketed Scripture quotations (NKJV) added. – JBW
Honorable Mention
Heartlight provides a gallery of Scripture art that’s searchable by theme or book of the Bible (see the graphic in the article above). Visit heartlight.org