Oxen Yoked Together

Gal 5:1  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (NIV)

Although many of us know we are saved by grace, if we don’t come into a full revelation of grace, we will live a life of mixture of law and grace; consequently we will not experience the total freedom that grace brings to our lives.

This is why Paul wrote his letter to the Galatian Church. They started out under grace but slipped back under law and were living in the mixture between the two. Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?  (NKJV)

Paul describes law and grace like wearing a yoke around our necks like oxen are yoked to pull a plough. There were two types of yoke, a wooden yoke or an iron yoke. The wooden yoke was light, sat easily on the neck allowing the oxen to pull the plough all day long. The iron yoke was heavy and ill fitting, the skin would chafe and break exposing the flesh and bruising the neck; and by the end of the day the oxen was worn out, exhausted and weak.

It’s easy to see that the wooden yoke represents grace; grace is light and frees us to live a life of joy and peace, a life that ploughs a furrow of good works not dead works.The iron yoke represents the law; the law is oppressive, it highlights sin in our life leading to guilt and condemnation. We become bowed down and exhausted through living a life of defeat, hopelessness and shame.

In subsequent blogs I will be applying grace to these areas of bondage bringing the freedom that Jesus sacrifice won for us on the cross.

Meditation point: Prayer – ” Holy Spirit, reveal to me areas of my life where I am living by law not grace and show me the way to freedom”.

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