"Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light" (Matthew 11:27-30 TEV).
But most of us carry a yoke of burden that we've put on ourselves because of unresolved guilt and unrealistic expectations. We're trying to prove that we matter. We take on a heavy yoke that God never intended in order to prove that we're important when God says we're already important: He created us to be with him and to fulfill a unique mission in life. That makes us important, not all the things we do (or don't do). Get rid of the guilt and let's replace it with grace. You see how much better this fits; how much more comfortable it is?"
Take off this yoke of perfectionism, where you're always trying to prove yourself and toss it over to be burned. Put on the yoke of God’s plan for your life; his purpose. When you do that, your confidence will soar. God's yoke is that we follow his purpose for our lives, and when we do that, things work out a whole lot better. When we go our own way in life, we hit one brick wall after another. In a sense, God says, "Put on my purpose, my plan for your life."
How heavy is God's yoke? Jesus says, "The yoke I will give you is light and easy." You say, "But my Christian life isn't easy. My Christian life is heavy; it's like a duty that I have to fulfill." Then it may be you are out of God's will. You may be doing something that God never intended for you to do. I can't say it any plainer than this: It may be some of the things you think God is asking you to do, He's not asking you to do. Your conscious and your perfectionism are asking you to do them.
Jesus did not come to give you a burden but a blessing. Am I saying the Christian life has no problems? No, not at all! We all will have a lot of problems. The Christian life is full of difficulties...
The point is this: to live in the center of God's will is a lighter load than to live out of God's will. To live in God's purpose and plan for your life is a lighter, more relaxing, more enjoyable load than for you to live your own life any old way you choose.
