"My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30)

Jesus said something He obviously wants us to believe, but of all the things He said, this seems the most difficult to believe: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). Everyone who has been serious about following Jesus has discovered that "in the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). It's also painfully true that "the world hath hated them [those who believe in Jesus], because they are not of the world, even as I [Jesus] am not of the world" (17:14).

The problem is that there are "children of light" in the world, and there are "children of disobedience" or "children of wrath" who instinctively feel toward the "children of light" as the world felt toward Jesus. "If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you," He says.

But you and I cannot be sure who is who! When Stephen was being stoned, he would naturally have thought that Saul of Tarsus (holding the coats of those throwing stones to kill him) was a "child of the devil" like the others (Acts 7:59-8:1). But Steven's Christlike spirit witnessed to Saul, and that man "consenting unto his death" became wonderfully converted to Christ. (Imagine how Stephen will feel in the first resurrection when he meets the apostle!)

So Jesus encourages us to cherish hope in our hearts toward those who "despitefully use you," and to pray for them (Matt. 5:44). Even our "tribulation" then becomes the joyful experience of soul-winning! As we endure our pain, we are buoyed up by the constant hope that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17) just as Stephen's stoning-affliction has "worked" for him. We actually learn to know by experience what it means to identify with Jesus when He said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

"In Him" we too "overcome the world." Joy fills our hearts. The unthinkable becomes real, and wonder of wonders, we selfish, worldly people ourselves (that's what we all are by nature) discover that we can actually pray for those who harm us. Miracle!

And then we're on top forever after, for "we walk in the light, as He is in the light, [and] we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). We are never left alone.