Jesus Is Our Example! Pt.1

‘Come to Me all who are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of 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 to 30).

Those are wonderful words of Jesus. The idea of the ‘yoke’ is like a farmer or our ‘Master’. A yoke makes oxen go where the Master wants them to go, and do what the Master wants them to do. The whole message of the Bible is ‘God wants to give us salvation’. He loves us so. He wants to transform us, prepare us for heaven and finally, introduce us to a whole new existence. We need to concentrate on being transformed into the likeness of Jesus and that includes being totally obedient like He was. We need to learn from Jesus and apply the knowledge to our lives. Just reading the Bible is not enough to change us. ‘Be doers of the Word of God, and not merely listeners to it’ (James 1:22).

We need to form a one on one, close relationship with Jesus in order to learn from Him. We need to spend time in His company and get to know Him intimately; just as Jesus knows the Father intimately. ‘I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you’ (John 13:15). We need to make Jesus our Lord and our Master and follow His example. If we follow the Lord, we are not pushing against His will, and that makes our lives flow easier and we will find peace. His will is ALWAYS best. He is ALWAYS faithful and He ALWAYS good.

We all need to face life by living to please the Father and to honor and glorify Him. We need to follow His example and allow that to bring us the greatest delight. We need to learn from the Lord Jesus daily. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus suffered anguish but He prayed, “Not My will but Yours be done”
(Luke 22:42)

We also read that although Jesus is God’s Son, He learned obedience by what He suffered (Hebrews 5:8 & 9). Moreover, Jesus became the Source of salvation to all those who in turn,

obey Him. Jesus lived in total submission to the Father, His plans and His purposes. Jesus is the most influential Person in all of earth’s history. The Apostle Paul had the same determination to follow the Father. He faced beatings and death but did not waver from ‘fighting the good fight’. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).  

 It is imperative that we have fierce determination to follow Jesus’ example of obedience and dedication to God. With God’s help, we will succeed. We can not do this on our own. We must be submitted to God, humble ourselves and ask His help, and by the grace of God we will achieve obedience to His will. If we fail, we need to go to God, repent, confess our sins, and get right up and press on to the goal.