Lenten devotionals from our DS's wife Robbie Craker

Day #21

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. – Luke 14:27 (NIV)

If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light. – Matthew 11:28-30 (CEV)

Don’t these verses seem to conflict with one another? What is Jesus talking about? How can we carry our cross? It seems to be too heavy a burden. He says the yoke is easy to bear, and the burden is light. Doesn’t sound like a cross to me.

Could it be that we have this whole thing wrong? At least I know I get confused some times. We don’t choose our cross and we don’t choose our burden. Perhaps we spend too much time trying to pick out a cross or a yoke to fit us. Or we choose them and then expect Jesus to come and carry them with us.

Recently, I was with a group of people from our district. The man was talking about horses. He’d grown up on a farm and when he was a boy they farmed with horses. He said something interesting that has been running around in my heart and mind. He said that his father wouldn’t like these contests where you keep adding weight to a horse’s load to see how much it can carry. You should never overload a horse. You’ll ruin the horse both physically and temperamentally. He thought this is what Jesus meant. Jesus has the yoke for us and He isn’t going to add anything to the load that will be too hard for us to carry.

But what is our reality? Many of us feel like our cross is too hard to bear and our load is too heavy to carry. Could it be because we’ve tried to choose our own cross? Could it be because we’ve chosen our own load to carry? If I’m honest with myself I will admit that much of what seems too heavy for me to carry has been added to the load by me. Instead of “crucifying” something I want to carry so I can carry what Christ wants me to carry, I add to it.

So my cross does seem heavy because I’ve not put down the extraneous things that bind me. And the burden seems way too heavy because I pile on the load (which is usually good stuff) instead of yoking with Jesus and carrying what He wants me to carry. Often I add to my load so I will feel good about myself or look good in the eyes of others.

All metaphors break down at some point, but let’s think of this picture. We’re yoked with Jesus, we’re pulling a wagon and in that wagon is the cross. The cross is the image we have of putting to death anything that is worthless, inconsequential or unnecessary that we have added to the load. When we try to add something for the wrong reasons and with the wrong motives it is put to death by the cross and we let it go.

Sometimes others try to pile things in the wagon. They have things they want us to carry. This is why we must be yoked with Christ. This is why we must carry the cross. We must be in constant communion with Him so we know what to say “yes” to and what to say “no” to. And this is tricky at times. But let’s not blame Jesus for the load that we’ve piled on or allowed others to pile on. Let’s look at it realistically and allow Him to crucify whatever needs to be done away with.

Before you get worried that I only believe in having serious things in my wagon let me set your mind at ease. We need to carry around fun and joy and good times. We need to carry around rest and relaxation. But when they are set alongside the cross they bring deeper rest and deeper happiness. We don’t feel guilty about it.

“Father, today we want to be yoked with your Son. We want to carry exactly what you want us to carry and nothing more. Give us courage to allow you to put to death anything that we have added that isn’t what you ask of us. Amen”