The Freedom to Submit to Christ

To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties and problems in my mind. To have a master and a teacher is this and nothing less. Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what he wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what he wants, but he will not. And at other times I wish he would leave me alone, and he does not. –Oswald Chambers

Our Lord doesn’t strongarm or coerce our love. He’s truly given us a choice—to love Him or not. He offers, instead, an alternative to the yoke of slavery to sin that hangs burdensome around our necks, inviting us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). His yoke does not break our will, it brings the relief of freedom … freedom to love and submit to Him.