The Increase Sample

JON KITNA

BURDENS

We all carry burdens. Some burdens are good ones, like the burden of providing for our families, or the burden of serving our churches and our communities, or the burden of loving others selflessly. But we also place unhealthy burdens on ourselves - burdens we were never created to carry.

In college, I had become the life of the party, the big man on campus, and the quarterback who was having a breakout year. But inside, I was lonely and incomplete. I was carrying around unhealthy and unrealistic burdens, day after day, all in an attempt to hold tightly to the mask I was wearing.

Burdens are a huge part of our lives, especially when we’re carrying the wrong ones.

In Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus is speaking as a Rabbi. The language of “taking a yoke” is rabbinical language. Disciples were taught to take the yoke of the Rabbi, because that was a big part of following their leader.

But unlike the Rabbis of Jesus’ day, the offer of Jesus is that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. This would have been a surprise for any potential disciples to hear. They were expecting to hear words like “difficult” and “heavy”. When I was searching for Jesus, I was expecting the opposite too.

But I found something different in Christ.

I found that Jesus never told me to get my stuff together before following Him with my life. I discovered that, once I chose to follow Jesus, He would begin to grow me and heal me as a result of my following Him, and not as a prerequisite.

In that way, I’ve experienced the ease and the lightness of Christ’s yoke. He has offered me (and the world) something that’s simply too good to refuse. When He invites the burdened soul to come to Him, He really means it.

There was a specific night in my life when all of this began to make sense. It’s a night I’m not proud of, but it’s one I thank God for. I’ll tell you about that night over at theincrease.org. This is a story I get to share with churches, coaches, and youth groups all over the country. I’d love for you to hear it.