Whose yoke is this, anyway?

Image by Digging For Fire via Flickr

Most leaders know the feeling -- trying to get out of town, a stack of phone calls that need returned, emails hanging out of the inbox and the crazy thing keeps ringing at me, bills need paid, dry cleaning needs picked up...

But, He says, "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).

If Jesus promised His followers REST, WHY are so many Christian leaders burnt to a crisp? What does rest have to do with calendars that are stuffed to the max?

I can hear something rattling around in my readers right now: "But, this is the LORD'S work! Are you trying to tell me I need a recliner to be spiritual?"

Here's what I'm trying to tell ALL of us (and I'm really trying to listen!): leaders end up burnt out and caved in because we yoke ourselves to the WRONG things. We are busier than "one-armed paper hangers" because we fill our calendars with all kinds of things the Lord hasn't called us to. It's not a matter of too much work -- the issue we need to address is focusing on work that really matters in the face of eternity! I read a good article this morning over coffee and wanted to pass on the link:

http://www.navpress.com/magazines/archives/article.aspx?id=1.97.2

Every week I'll have much more work staring me in the face than I can possibly get done! It helps me when I back up a couple of steps before the week begins and ask, "Lord, help me FOCUS on the stuff (and those weird PEOPLE I'm supposed to be serving!) that really matters." As I move through the week and the phone keeps ringing and emails stack up, I need to make sure my filter is in place. I have a finite amount of time each day -- what is really important? What would Jesus do?