“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11:29)
In this life you have only two choices, the yoke of Christ or the bondage of sin, free will is not as free as many believe it to be.
If you have determined to serve yourself you are serving Satan, you seek the lust of the eyes, of the flesh and pride, those things of this world that at the present belong to our adversary. If you have put on the yoke of Christ, then His will becomes your will, you are a servant of the Most High and expected to obey all that He commands of you. You have no choice in these matters, you have created nothing, you have no eternal possessions, your life will end.
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17)
We have a few decades, a century or so to make up our minds as to who we will serve, truth, the truth of the Almighty is revealed to every single person, His godhead and eternal power are shown to all, there will be no excuses heard on our day of accounting. Those who reject His truth will remain in the bondage of sin, believing themselves to possess that which they can never truly own. Those who have given their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ deny themselves for His glory, receiving the Kingdom of heaven.
To gain the whole world one must willingly deny Him who made the world, one must be completely deceived into believing that what they are gaining has value, that it will last, that it is worth the entirety of their life.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2nd Peter 3:10)
Satan realized one day the power that he was created with and by his own free will deceived himself into believing that it was his to do with as he pleased. Iniquity was found in him. There is good and there is evil, there is no third choice, rebellion or obedience, these are our only options.
If you have chosen the yoke of Christ, then you are on the path of obedience, and obedience is expected of you. Here is that narrow path that few find, for many still believe themselves to have a form of free will that say they are walking it. They place at least a part of themselves above the will of God, believing that He will accept small offerings of sacrifice from them. They place the yoke upon themselves, and remove it when they chose to, when it is inconvenient, when there is a possibility of embarrassment for His name’s sake, when they want to leave the path for the sake of self.
They offer little and expect much.
The wicked do not deny themselves the pleasures of those seasons of sin, the saved strive against them daily.
Good people believe they can be good without Christ, sinners know they have been saved by grace, and grace alone, through faith.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24) Dead in Christ or dead for all eternity, in bondage to sin or accepting the yoke placed upon you, that is the amount of free will we have.
I do not see the yoke of Christ on many who profess to know Him, I see the exertion of free will, I see them returning to the path but not remaining on it. I see them believing that being good means being righteous and holy.
“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” (Mark 7:13)
Ask yourself this question, and contemplate your answer well, can you wear the yoke of Christ unwillingly, can you be obedient to the will and Word of God outside of a love for Him? Once the yoke is placed on you, it will not be removed. You will obey.
