Both Shoulders

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30). We are all familiar with the concept of shoulder angels and shoulder devils as seen in cartoons and movies and the like. When a person is in a dilemma, there appears on one shoulder a little angel urging them to do the right thing, and on the other shoulder a devil tempting them to do the selfish thing. This process of figuring out whether to listen to the shoulder angel or the shoulder devil can be confusing and exhausting. However, if we take upon us the yoke of Christ, then both of our shoulders will be occupied and we won't have any room for shoulder angels or shoulder devils. We won't have to struggle with the decision because we will already be working side by side with our Savior Jesus Christ and He knows the way forward and will guide us as long as we remain yoked together. This is what it means for Christ to give us rest. Watching the shoulder angel and shoulder devil duke it out sucks up all of our willpower. The devil doesn't need to have the best or the most logically coherent argument, he just has to keep us arguing with him until we're so tired and confused that even if we don't choose the wrong, we're too worn out to choose the right either. By taking on Christ's yoke we are pushing forward with both shoulders, fully committed and not wasting any of our energy fighting with the devil but rather going forth with the strength of the Lord. Christ's yoke is a burden but it is much easier and lighter than our shoulder angel and shoulder devil wrestling all of the time and wearing us out.