The better yoke

Are you feeling burdened by fundraising? Do you labor day after day toward your goal without seeing progress? Are you longing for rest?

Jesus welcomes you with these words:

"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)

If you're feeling exhausted, discouraged or "heavy laden", you may not be wearing Jesus's yoke. If that's the case, what yoke are you wearing?

Are you wearing a yoke of performance? This yoke drives you hard, requiring more and more of your time and energy - all the while promising that rest will come right after the next task is accomplished... just keep it up a little longer!

Are you wearing a yoke of satisfying others? This yoke promises you respect and praise while threatening you with loneliness if you fail. You just have to make sure people always think well of you. Surely you can handle that small task!

Are you wearing a yoke of fear? You're never sure what's coming next, but it'll probably be bad. Holding onto this yoke allows you to worry about every possible outcome so you're always prepared for the worst.

Are you wearing a yoke of success? So long as you give your whole life over to your work, you'll keep up with or even surpass others your age. Then they can't look down on you for fundraising! You'll show them...

Are you wearing a yoke of distance? This yoke requires you to not put too much trust in anyone or hope in anything. True, you'll never be happy, but at least you won't get hurt again.

Are you wearing a yoke of goodness? Just be good enough! You're so close! Just make sure you read your daily devotions, you always say something spiritual in your Small Group and you tithe 11%. Oh, and make sure you're smiling all the time.

Whether one of those describes you perfectly or it's something else altogether, Jesus is offering you a better yoke. An easy one. It doesn't mean that you'll never experience difficulty, but it does mean that you'll experience His empowering grace and all-encompassing mercy in the midst of it.

Let go of your heavy burden. Put on Jesus's yoke. Find the rest your soul longs for.

The End of Yourself

There are many things in life that can bring you to the end of yourself.

A terrible boss. Chronic health issues. Long bouts of depression. A failing marriage. A rebellious child. Ongoing addictions. Relentless sin struggles. Deep loneliness. And, of course, fundraising.

If even one of these is weighing on you, you might find yourself struggling to get out of bed in the morning. If two or more are affecting you, you may come to believe that you just can't do it anymore.

Your heart will cry out for relief. Your mind, in those rare occasions where you can think clearly, will be racing to come up with a way to escape. As option after option falls away, you are overcome with despair and cry out even more. It's a deeply painful downward spiral.

If you've never felt that way, just wait - so long as you live long enough, you will.

Yet there is hope. Not wishful thinking hope. Not "it'll all work out" romantic-comedy hope. Not even "God works all things together for good so chin up!" hope. This better hope lies before you, clear as day, but it requires making a choice.

The path you've been walking down thus far has not offered any options. You don't want to be on this road, but you've had little control over the things that have brought you to this point. Yet before you lies a fork in the road with two paths to choose from.

The first path is marked, "The End of Yourself". That path leads to you giving in. It means quitting your job. Or refusing to leave your bed. It means getting a divorce or abandoning your family. It results in offering yourself to your addictions and embracing your sin. It could mean giving up on the fundraising you've worked so hard at. Regardless of what it looks like, that path leads to you making your last stand. You will take control of something. It is the worst of all scenarios, but at least you had some say in it.

But there is another path. Strangely, it too is marked, "The End of Yourself", and it too leads to you giving in. You can't see as far down the path, so the details are hazy, but what is clear is that despair has no place there. Yes, you see pain, as it is obviously not an easy path, and it seems that you may or may not actually quit your job or get healthy or have an easy marriage or finish fundraising. But there are others there and they seem okay. Your addictions will still pull at you along the way and sin will gain a foothold more often than you'd like or expect, but it will never win. This path is not pretty, but it is infinitely better than the first path.

Consider now the words of the Apostle Paul, a man intimately familiar with the second path:

For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
(Philippians 4:11-13 ESV)

Paul tells us that down that second path is where we'll discover the gospel. Those who run down either path will shout together, "I can do all things!" But only those heading down the second path will finish with, "through him, my Savior, my God, who strengthens me!"

The gospel tells us that while we were yet sinners, dead in our transgressions and sins, being altogether foolish, disobedient and deceived slaves, Jesus died for us (Rom 5:8, Eph 2:1, Titus 3:3). When we were at our absolute worst, without any hope in the world, God Himself came and rescued us. Nor was this just a once and done rescue - Jesus is still working that same power in the lives of all those who put their trust in Him.

That power is the hope our hearts are crying for. It's a reminder that Jesus came at our most desperate moment and it's a reminder that He has never left our side. He will be there again at our next most desperate moment, as well as the one after that and the one after that. Each time it will require coming to the end of yourself, but you find discover that you can do all things through Him who strengthens you.

Some day you will come to the end of yourself, but remember that it is not the end of the journey. In fact, it could be just the beginning.

You are not alone

Since the beginning, Satan has used a devastating two-prong approach to cripple his enemies.

He begins by putting an arm around your shoulder while seductively whispering, "You are alone." He goes on to tell you that you're not special. God doesn't care. Does God really love you and want what is best for you? Sadly, no. Just look around... is this what a loving, attentive God would do? You poor, sad creature... you are truly, completely alone...

Once that seed of doubt is planted, he goes on to lure you to a false "cure". As the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:1-2), Satan commands the world to welcome you. So the world obediently retracts its fangs, puts on a smile, throws its arms around you and says, "Welcome, friend, to a place where you need never be alone!"

This is a one-two punch that sends me reeling time after time, especially during fundraising. Though I know that I shouldn't listen to the lies, they feel so very true. Perhaps you can relate.

But don't believe it. Not for a second.

You are not alone. You were created by a loving, doting Father who watches you with keen interest day by day, moment by moment. He utterly delights in you, sovereignly setting up every situation so that you'll know His goodness and love for you. (Acts 17:26-27)

You are not alone. Your Creator has existed always in community. Being alone is completely foreign to the nature of the Trinity. You were created in the image of that Trinitarian God (Gen 1:26-27) and baptized into that Trinitarian God. (Matt 28:19)

You are not alone. It was God Himself who said, "it is not good for the man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18a). Then God Himself worked to fix it: "I will make him a helper fit for him." (Genesis 2:18b)

You are not alone. God is with us wherever we go, even in the darkest places (Ps 139:1-18). Jesus is called Immanuel, "God with us." (Matt 1:23). When Jesus commissioned us to missions work, He said, "I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt 28:20). When Jesus returned to the Father, He went even further to assure us that we weren't alone by sending the Holy Spirit: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever." (John 14:16, cf 14:26).

You are not alone. Satan desperately wants you to think that you are, because he hates that you will never be alone, now or in eternity:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10)

Satan hates that. He hates that this future is sealed for you. He hates that you are fundraising so that still more will be added to that multitude. So he will tell you phone call after phone call and appointment after appointment that you are alone.

But don't believe it. Not for a second.

You are not alone.