In his book, Soul Keeping, John Ortberg points out how rarely the word easy is used in scripture. By my count, it us used less than twenty-five times in the entire Bible. Jesus used it when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ortberg goes on to point out that when Jesus used the word, it was a soul word, not a circumstance word or an assignment word. He says, “Aim at having easy circumstances, and life will be hard all around. Aim at having an easy soul, and your capacity for tackling hard assignments will actually grow. The soul was not made for an easy life. The soul was made for an easy yoke” (p.126).

As you look at the life of Jesus, he apparently knew the secrets of a soul at ease or at rest. Regardless of his circumstances or the demands of the crowd he never seemed to be in a hurry and rarely, if ever, let someone else determine his agenda. The secret of his soul-at-ease seems to have been his intimate connection with the Father, which simplified his life and decision making considerably. His statements such as, “I only do what I see the Father doing,” tell us that Jesus moved at the pace ordained by his Father rather than by the world. He sought the applause of only one rather than the multitude. He evaluated his life by one set of heavenly standards rather than the shifting standards of culture. He discovered that his Father’s agenda for his life was more focused and simpler than the agenda the world hands us. Love God. Love one another. Give attention to those I highlight for you or to whom I direct you. Don’t worry much about the rest.

I know my first response to my own words about Jesus is that we live in a different world and just don’t have the luxury of setting our own agendas. To some degree that is true but the tension of life impacts us more when we internalize the demands the world places on us and give those demands legitimacy. A soul connected to God and his purposes is the key to ease.

From a practical perspective we can notice that Jesus has some consistent practices in his life that kept him connected to the Father and that kept his soul healthy. We might want to emulate what Jesus did so here is a bullet point list for my left-brained friends. You can add some other patterns you see in the life of Jesus.

• Jesus prayed a lot and on many occasions prayed for extended periods.
• He enjoyed solitude on a regular basis.
• He spent time outdoors enjoying God’s (and his own) creation.
• He developed a circle of close friends with whom he could share his life and his heart.
• He stored up the Word of God in his heart.
• He took long walks – sometimes on water.
• He engaged in deep, spiritual discussions with friends and sometimes strangers.
• He laughed and sometimes hung out with non-religious people.
• He thought a lot about the kingdom of Heaven.
• He worshipped often in synagogues with other believers.
• He frequently talked to others about God’s love.
• On occasion, he played with children.

Think about doing some intentional things to find ease for your soul and may your soul be at rest today.