Skunks In The Cellar

A lady was having trouble with a skunk in her cellar, so she called the police station and asked for help. They recommended that she make a trail of bread crumbs from the steps of the basement to the back of her yard, and wait for the skunk to follow it out. The next day she called the police station again, and said, "I did what you told me to do...and now I have two skunks in my basement."

Do you ever feel like your problems multiply? I hear people who are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. I talk to people are burdened down by their fears. They are having financial issues, their relationships are in trouble, they are afraid of what the future will bring. It all multiplies and adds up to a burden that weighs them down and keeps them from having the life they should have.

Jesus understood that we would have times like this, he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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)

Jesus promises us some pretty cool things here. First of all, he says that he will give us rest. The Greek word for rest is “anapausin,” literally a vacation or second wind. If we will just give Jesus our burdens he will give us a rest, a chance to overcome the issues and pains of our lives.

Secondly, he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Today, with all of our modern farming machinery, this may not make much sense. The crowd Jesus was talking to understood it right away. In the first century, oxen were strapped into a yoke and used to mill grain. The yoke would span between two oxen, tying them together. So whenever a young ox needed to be trained he would be attached to the yoke of an older ox. The older ox would pull the yoke and the younger ox would follow in his footsteps and learn the steps, even though he wasn't actually pulling any of the load.

This illustrates the Christian life. Jesus is saying, "When you walk with me, I pull the load so that you don't have to. Let me do the hard work." Jesus will pull the load, all we have to do is follow him.

With those promises, why would we continue to struggle and do things on our own? I think it is because all of this comes at a price. The very beginning of the verse says, “Come to me…” It may sound simplistic, but God can’t work in your life if you won’t come to him. When we come to him, we bring everything we have and lay it at his feet—our sin, our guilt, our shame, our problems, our burdens, our fears, our doubts, our dreams, our goals, our ambitions—everything. And we give it all to him. This is how to enter the Christian life, and it is how to maintain the Christian life.

Being a Christian isn’t just about heaven and hell. It’s not even mostly about that. It is about making a life that is full and happy and fulfilling. It is a about a life that is able to overcome the problems and setbacks, not succumb to them. That is what Jesus promises, all we have to do is come to him and let him take our burdens and cares.

Trying to get the skunks out of my cellar… Jerry