Now that we have celebrated Thanksgiving, it’s official: the holiday season is here! Soon we will be celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. We want to enjoy it but the holidays often bring so many extra pressures and activities that they crowd out the meaning of Thanksgiving and the purpose of Christmas. How can we manage the pressures of the season without them turning into burdens that bury us emotionally and spiritually? How can we reduce the stress so we truly rejoice and enjoy Christmas?

Whatever the season, stresses and burdens can steal our joy. There are many different kinds of stressors in our lives. People are a major source of stress. We all have different people burdens, maybe it’s a wayward child or a season of strife in a marriage. We also have work burdens: difficult co-workers, changes at our job, or maybe having no job. If your “job” is going to school, burdens can come in the form of final exams or semester group projects. Another major burden in our lives can be money (or more likely the lack thereof). In fact, studies suggest that one of the greatest problems leading couples to divorce is arguments over financials issues. Financial stress may also come about because we’re out of work or just living paycheck to paycheck.

In additional to people, work, and money, stress may also result from health issues. As I am getting older, I see my health issues as the “Battle of the B’s”: bulging, balding and bifocals! In more serious cases, your battle may be cancer or perhaps just physical or emotional exhaustion. Now, there are always those people who are feeling pretty smug because they’re thinking, “I don’t have any people, work, money or health burdens.” Well if you’re thinking that you don’t have any burdens, guess what? You probably are the burden!

To begin our message today, Jesus summarizes the secret of stress management when He says:

“‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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’” (Matt. 11:28-30).

In these verses, Jesus gives us some practical steps…where if we apply them in our lives, our stress level will go down.

HOW TO REDUCE MY STRESS

The very first thing Jesus says in this passage is, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened…” So the first step to managing burdens is to…

1.    COME TO CHRIST.

Notice that He does not say, “Come to the refrigerator,” or “Come to the television.” He doesn’t even say, “Come to another Christian.” He says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” When we are exhausted emotionally and physically, we need deep-down soul rest. Carrying fear and worry wears us out. And when overwhelmed and over burdened, nothing but Jesus will give our soul the rest it needs. He will give you release from worry and fear. He will give you release from tension caused by regrets and guilt. He will give you release from holding onto resentment and bitterness. What Jesus wants is a relationship with you. He wants to help you carry, or manage, every burden. The key is to allow Jesus to be your life manager.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about getting to know Jesus Christ as your life manager. Let Him be the boss. Let Him call the shots in your life. When we let God be God, we are letting Him be Lord of our life. When you do this, He will give you a power not your own to help you manage your relationships. He will give you wisdom and strength on your job. And He will guide you in your finances. When you allow Him to be Lord in your life and follow His principles, He will give you rest.

So the first step in reducing the stress of the season is to come to Christ and once you’ve done that, the next step to…

2.    GIVE UP CONTROL.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t recognize ourselves as controlling people. One of the main reasons we get so overloaded is that we think we have to be in control of everything. We think we have to make sure the ball is rolling and that everything will be okay. Strangely enough, the opposite is true: the greater our need to control things, the more prone our lives are to be overloaded and stressed out.

We get weary when we try to control everything because we were never meant to be our own life manager. Continuing today’s passage, Jesus says, “Take My yoke…for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Now just to explain, a yoke is a wooden beam that is used to bring two oxen together to share a load and work as a team thereby allowing them to carry more than they could ever carry alone. In this passage, Jesus says His yoke is easy. The word “easy” in the original Greek translation means “perfectly fitted.” What Jesus is telling us is that the tasks in life that God has asked you to do is made to fit your needs and your abilities perfectly.

It’s important to notice that Jesus is not saying, “Come to Me, and I’ll take all your burdens off your back.” This perfectly fitted yoke is a symbol of partnership. Jesus wants to partner up with you and to be your life manager. When you are properly yoked to Him, you are side by side and your ear is close to His voice. Jesus is the lead ox and when you walk in pace with Him, He will carry your load with you. On the other hand, if your relationship with Him is casual (distant), you will feel as though you are being dragged along. Even worse, if you unyoke yourself, you will have to carry your burdens all alone.

It is possible for Christians to be unyoked from Christ. We may not always like Him being our life manager, so we say, “I don’t want to forgive that co-worker who wronged me so I’m going to do things my own way.” We may have to re-yoke ourselves, moment by moment. We may need to choose to forgive, even though we don’t feel like it. Thereby, we are freed from resentment and bitterness. He gives you the strength to do it so any time you yoke yourself to Christ, your stress level will go down.

In these weeks to come, give up control and yoke up to Christ. During this holiday (spending) season, one area where you might want to give up control in is your finances. It is possible to follow His principles as we spend, save, and give? Others of us need to give up some control on our jobs. Maybe we want to just quit; but before you do, make sure God has not called you to that job. If He has, you need to stay there. Remember, His yoke is perfectly fitted to you. He will help you manage the stress if you stay yoked to Him.

After you have come to Christ and are learning to give up control, the last step is to…

3.    LEARN TO TRUST.

Learning to trust God is the secret to stress reduction. “Learn from Me,” He says:

“‘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.’”

We can learn from Jesus. The Scripture says that He is “gentle and humble in heart.” This means that Jesus was completely dependent on the Father. It means He trusted the Father completely. He was totally dependent on God, and that is what we need to do if we want our stress levels to go down. But remember, we did not develop the habits of worrying, scurrying, and hurrying overnight. We’ve learned those habits over time and they will take time to unlearn. Be patient with yourself. Learning to trust God takes time. It is a process.

Five years ago, I used to work for a large international company. God blessed me with a great career. I had all the perks that go along with being a regional manager of a multi-million-dollar company. I had a generous salary and compensation package which included stock options, a company car and an expense account. After ten years of that, however, God called me into full-time ministry. I’ll never forget the day I resigned. I wrote the letter and faxed it to headquarters. As the fax was going through, I heard the old hymnal, “…I have decided to follow Jesus…no turning back…no turning back…” in my head. I knew there was no turning back.

I had to explain God’s calling to my boss and thanked him for how the company had blessed me almost beyond measure. He said he had wanted to promote me to be divisional Vice President of the largest region in the company. Nevertheless, I said, “Thank you, but I know what God is calling me to do.” I came on staff and joined the awesome team here at New Hope. Shortly afterward (five years ago), I was called to pastor New Hope Windward.

People ask me if it was hard to leave that job with all the perks. Honestly, my response is always the same, “No.”. It was not hard to leave because since I came to Christ, gave up control and let Him call the shots, I have had such a blessed life. I am not saying that it hasn’t been difficult at times but once I learned to trust Him and let Him manage my life, it became an incredible adventure.

Time and again, I have to re-yoke myself to Jesus. In fact, just this week, I was feeling over-stressed and had to pray, “Lord, I come to You. I am giving up control of this situation. I want to learn to trust You. I’m sorry Lord. I’m turning to You, again.” Once I re-yoked myself to Him, He shouldered the burdens with me and things became okay. He will do that for you too, if you let Him.

You can overcome the stress you feel in the seasons that you’re in – whether it be a parenting season, a stress at work season, or just the holidays. Come to Christ, give up control, and learn to trust Him. When you do, you’ll receive rest for your soul—and a very merry Christmas, as well!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.      What do you usually do when you are stressed out? (Did it ring a bell when we talked about how Jesus did not say, “Come to the refrigerator,” or “Come to the television”?) How can you begin to respond to stress in a Biblical way?

2.      What area of your life do you struggle to control? What do you think you gain from maintaining that control?

3.      Are you willing to relinquish that control to God and trust Him? How do you think you will benefit if God is your life manager?

4.      What types of stresses/burdens do you take on during the holiday season? What will you do differently this year to keep your focus on the true meaning of “Christ”mas?

Much appreciation to volunteer writer Robin Hart for her continued faithfulness and service in the Sermon Notes ministry…to spread joy during this holiday season.