What are your Standards?

I have been thoughtful the past few weeks about the standards that I set for myself.  Not just in schoolwork, but “across the board.”  I set impossibly high standards in my schoolwork, my relationships, my marriage, my housekeeping, my work, and even in the things that I do to try to relax.  I simply can’t seem to cut myself a break.  I lie in bed, wondering if I’ve been a good enough friend, knowing I could have done something more, spent more time, offered better insight.  I scold myself over even successful papers and projects, positive I could have used just one more source, conveyed my idea a bit more clearly.  I fret over the state of my house, the dishes left in the sink that I could have washed or the groceries I could have picked up for my empty refrigerator.  And the better work I do, the higher my standard becomes.  I simply move the bar continually higher so that it is always just out of reach.

In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus says ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.’

This verse is one that is often tossed around in the midst of stress and busyness.  But how is it exactly that Jesus offers us rest?  How is it that Jesus’s yoke is easy and his burden light?  When I look at the life of Jesus, “easy” is not the first word that comes to mind.  I don’t find Jesus lying getting a suntan on the beach of the sea of Galilee, so clearly this is not a call to “make more time for yourself” or even necessarily a call to a “balanced lifestyle.”  What Jesus is calling us to here is revolutionary.

Jesus refers to a yoke, a piece of farm equipment used to harness draft animals so that they could pull a cart.  But the term was also understood by Jesus’s audience to refer to an empire, a rule under which people lived.  So Jesus is not just calling people to relax more, but is calling them to live under a different empire, a different rule altogether.

We may be ruled by the masters of homework, relationships, perfectionism, or work.  These rulers certainly fight for our time, our attention, and our loyalty.  It seems I can scarcely wake up in the morning before being reminded of all that I must do, all that I must attend to.  But Jesus is calling us to change our allegiances.  He is calling us to come under his yoke, his reign, where it is easy, where the burden is light.

Jesus beckons us to  ‘seek first the Reign of God and all of this will be added to you as well.’  (Matt 6:33)  This new empire encompasses all that we are and all that we do.  We seek the Reign of God in our relationships, job, schoolwork, and leisure.  And this is the standard.  Seek first the Reign of God.  Seek to bring more of God’s good order to the world around you.  That’s it.  Perhaps today, the Reign of God looks like me spending extra time with a friend.  Perhaps it looks like studying hard for a test.  Perhaps it looks like taking a nap or having a cup of hot tea.   Life under Jesus’s yoke, within the Reign of God means freedom from the masters of the world.

There is freedom and rest in serving just one master, Jesus Christ.

At the end of the day, when I lay down to sleep, I ought not ask myself “Did I study hard enough?  Did I do well enough?  Could I have done more?” but rather “Did I seek the Reign of God first today?” This is God’s standard.  And who am I to impose a different one?