Learning from Jesus - part 2

Last week I suggested that learning from Jesus is the way towards life-giving knowledge. Learning at His feet, eating from His hand (so to speak), strengthens His life in me rather than my natural life which operates independently of Him.

Jesus teaches us how to learn in these familiar words in Matthew 11:25-30: "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 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.'"

(Notice that His words of verses 28-30 are set in the context of child likeness and dependence. Jesus says that knowledge and understanding of His kingdom ways is revealed to the childlike and is hidden from the "wise and understanding." One of the outstanding characteristics of a child is  that they are teachable, and being teachable implies attentiveness and trust in the one they are hearing without over-analyzing. This learning that Jesus invites us to experience from Him implies more than a gaining of information since anyone can collect information; lowliness in learning changes a person for the good.)

In this context of child likeness, Jesus extends the invitation: "Come to Me..." This is an invitation to drop everything to be attentive and trusting, to be with Him without distractions and without pretense, just Him and me alone. I believe this is what the saints of God throughout history have meant when saying to God, "Here am I..." This may sound easy to do in theory but it requires the help of the Spirit to do in actuality. The many distractions and our self- consciousness are hindrances to a childlike approach to Jesus.This initial coming to Jesus may be the most difficult part of learning from Him. 

However, having approached Him with my full attention, He invites me to bend down to get under the same yoke that He is under, which I believe is the yoke of obedience to the Father. As fallen creatures, this runs contrary to the independence that we are born with and which is the air we breathe in our fallen world. Because of this, we fear obedience to God as something heavy and burdensome to us.

But Jesus says that if we will come to Him just as we are (no pretenses nor excuses) and listen to what He has to tell us with an attitude of obedience (doing that which I believe He is saying to me as best I can), we will learn from Him, and our learning will be fruitful and edifying rather than self-inflating...AND we will make the happy discover that being in the same yoke with Him and bearing the same burden with Him is very restful to our turbulent soul.

In summary, this is a daily walk and it takes ongoing practice for it to become a habit of living. The more we practice approaching Jesus with full attention and sincerity ("come to Me"), and humbly listen with an attitude of lowliness and intention to obey ("take My yoke upon you"), I believe our learning will be without stress and will bear fruit for His honor and for the maturing of His people.