Rhythms of Grace
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
"Walk with me..."
This is intimacy with God. To walk with someone, one has to be close to them; close enough to hear them speak; close enough to observe their movements; close enough to see the world and what's before them from the other's viewpoint. In much the same way, walking with God allows us to see the world as He sees it.
"...and work with me"
We often think that working for God or serving God involves us working hard to do what we think He's asked us to; however, this verse says "walk with me and work with me." This means that as we walk with God we find ourselves working with Him. Notice it says "working WITH" and not "working for." He doesn't give us marching orders and leave us to our own devices, with an ability to come back for help when we need it. Quite the opposite. The work the Lord requires of us is one He is already doing and is inviting us to do with Him.
"...watch how I do it"
Another translation says, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me..." And it's this yoking metaphor that explains how we walk with him and work with him and watch how he does it. A yoke is placed around the neck of two cattle that would together pull a plough to work the land. Usually a younger cow is yoked to a more mature cow to learn from. All the younger cow has to do is walk with the more mature cow and keep in step, and as it does so, it finds itself working and learning how ploughing is to be done.
I always wondered what Jesus meant when He said "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn]." I wondered how Jesus as a man on earth could see the Father doing things and then do it. I believe that as Jesus walked with the Father in this yoked relationship, He watched the Father work in the earth and was able to observe where and how He worked in the lives of people and emulate what He saw. Since He was always walking with the Father He was always able to observe first and then do.
Notice that Jesus makes this invitation to those that are tired, worn out, and burned out on religion. God never intended for us to be burned out. He never intended for us to fill our lives with religious activities that wear us out. His work is hard work but it will never leave us burned out because we are not doing it in our own strength. The work is getting done because He is already doing it and has invited us to do it alongside Him. He is the one carrying the burden. He is the one bearing the load. It is His work but as we walk with Him we have the privilege of participating in the work while learning who God is experientially.
"Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."
This sums up it all up. See, when we find ourselves worn out and tired it is usually because we are being driven by performance and activity. We have somewhere down the line taken up the mistaken notion that our works and service are what please God or what are required of us to live the Christian life (a life marked by the followership of Jesus). God is saying that instead of our lives being orchestrated and driven by performance we should learn to let grace be the baseline rhythm for our lives and we'll find rest.
Rhythm:
- The harmonious flow of vocal sounds.
- A dividing into short portions by a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect
- Symmetry of movement or accent
If our life is a dance then the rhythm we move to dictates our experience. If God wants us to learn the unforced rhythms of grace it means there can be forced rhythms where we are trying hard to keep in step with the beat or the dance steps but our movements are not natural and fluid. God wants us to dance the dance of life with fluid movements but that can only be done when the rhythm with which we move is grace and not the forced rhythm of performance or works that wears us out.
