Week of Devotions (4). Matthew 11.

One of the distinctive characteristics of Matthew is that he places a heavy emphasis on Jesus' teaching. About 60% of the verses in this gospel contain the words of Jesus. Practically speaking this means we have an opportunity to really get to know Him. To do so however, we have to wrestle with the teachings of a first century Jewish rabbi. (The question about whether Jesus was an official rabbi or not is unimportant, because He certainly teaches like one.) Not just any rabbi, either, but the One who knew the Father perfectly, and taught with authority.

In Matthew then, any given chapter is likely to contain many lessons we can use as the basis of a devotional study. In picking one teaching, we may or may not capture the theme or essence of the chapter, because there are many teachings. That's okay to do, and you can always come back and mine the chapter for more nuggets. But it's a good idea to at least think about the big picture, to see if there's one overarching idea that ties everything together in the chapter.

This morning, the big picture remains pretty hazy for me, and one teaching jumped out above the many teachings in the chapter. Here's what Jesus said in v.11:28-31 -

"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." (NIV)

There are two reasons these verses stood out for me. One is that the idea of a light burden appeals to me right now. The other is that what I read in this passage seems to contradict what we just read yesterday about picking up a cross and following. Does this mean it's a cross, but a light one? Well... crosses only meant one thing in Jesus' time, and that was very heavy. I've bumped into the rabbi again, and I know that I need to spend some time studying these two ideas -- the cross and the easy yoke.

Before doing so, let's look at the last step in doing a devotional study. Here's what we've covered so far: prepare, select, meditate, and apply. I'm going to call the last step "Cement". In this step, you develop a prayer that helps focus everything you've thought about and written down up to this point in your study. And then you pray it, seeking God's help in applying His truth to your life. Keep it short, and you can pray it as often as you need to while you're doing the application. For example, if you're working today on temper because of your reading in James 1, and have been doing so ever since we read it two weeks ago, then you may still be praying the same prayer today, and multiple times during the day.

There's something else you can do during this step, and that is to memorize a verse from the passage. Memorizing verses is a really good idea. Think about how often you could continue to meditate on what you read for your study if you can call the key verse to mind anywhere and any time. Using our previous example, think about what it would mean standing in a long line at the DMV, realizing that you're going to be stuck well beyond your allocated time, noticing that everyone in front of you doesn't seem to have the right papers, or doesn't understand what they're being asked, or has some complicated transaction to complete and all you want to do is pay your forty bucks and get new tags. In your mind, maybe even under your breath, you recite, "James 1:19 and 20 -- Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19 and 20. God help me in the moments when I sense anger rising in me to calm down and to desire the same righteous life you desire."

There it is, cemented in place. A prayer and a memorized passage. You did the study, and now you're applying it in every day situations. God will use this to continue the process of life transformation that Paul talks about in Romans 12. The reason you might not memorize a verse or passage every time you do a devotional study is that you're still working on some other passage. You can continue to study devotionally every day, even while you're still concentrating on a previous teaching, and if that means you're still repeating an old memory verse from that study, no problem. Just make sure you're adding to the collection of verses or passages you have memorized.

This last step is simple to describe, but depending on your own abilities and how much recent practice you have, may seem difficult to actually do. It's pretty much a guarantee that if you can go stand in line at the DMV, you can memorize Scripture. Perhaps another time we can look at techniques to help, but you can start by cementing your devotional study by writing down a short prayer to pray, and the text of the verse(s) you want to memorize.

I'm going to wrestle with my passage for the day for a while, and will add to this post later today. But I'll post what I've written so far so that you have this final step of a devotional study in place. Enjoy Matthew 11.
========== UPDATE ==========
Here's a two-minute devotional. I don't care at the moment about the seeming differences between taking up a cross and taking up Jesus' yoke. What counts is that He has promised a light burden, and that's what I desire today. While it appears that this light burden may simply be relief from the constraints of the Law and the extra bits added on by the religious leaders, I'll take that. The rules, at least are simple to understand, if not follow, and since I'll be yoked to Jesus, I'll ask Him to help when it gets tough.

Prayer: Help me to stay yoked to you Jesus, and to be gentle and humble in my heart.

Memorize: Matt. 11:29,30 (NLTse) - "Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."