'Easy' is a soul word

Here is another excerpt from 'Soul Keeping' by John Ortberg:

The Soul needs rest

In the Bible,  God never gives anyone an easy job.  God never comes to Abraham, or Moses, or Esther and says, “I’d like you to do me a favor, but it really shouldn’t take much time.  I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”   God does not recruit like someone from the PTA.  he is always intrusive, demanding, exhausting.  He says we should expect that the world will be hard, and that our assignments will be hard.

The bible does use the word easy once, though.  It came from Jesus.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened … and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Easy is a soul word, not a circumstance word; not an assignment word.  Aim at having easy circumstances, and life will be hard all around.  Aim at having an easy soul, and your capacity for tackling hard assignments will actually grow.  The soul was not made for an easy life.  The soul was made for an easy yoke.

Years ago, a Christian psychiatrist named Frank Lake worked with many people who wanted to serve noble causes, but the stress and demands and difficulties got to them, and soon they became drained and bitter and cynical and discouraged.

He got together with the great Swiss theologian Emil Brunner, and they began to reflect on the life of Jesus in the Gospels.  Jesus faced enormous stresses and difficulties and pain.  Yet he never got sarcastic or cynical or unloving or burnt out.  No one took away his joy.

When they looked at Jesus’ life, they saw a pattern to it, different from the pattern of the lives of the missionaries Frank Lake saw burning out.  All human beings face challenge and pain and demands.  Jesus, however, lived in a divine rhythm where grace was constantly flowing into him and then flowing out from him.

Soul Keeping p126

I find these thoughts both challenging and captivating - a life worth pursuing.


photo credit: John Gevers via photopin cc