B. Conditioning - Read 11:30
1. When Jesus says here, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He is not saying it is easy being a Christian but that it is easy on us when we don't fight Him as a Christian!
a. His burden is light and the yoke is easy when we submit to His control in our lives.
b. When we fight it is just the opposite!
2. In fact, fighting God only makes us weaker because it will drain our strength, but submitting means developing strength by following Him.
3. The obedient person is not perfect, just smart!

ILLUS:
Strong people make as many and as ghastly mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit them, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong. -- Richard J. Needham, Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 1.

4. Obeying Christ appears to the world as a weak way to live, and yet it is just the opposite! Living for Christ by obeying His commands makes people of the world uncomfortable because it means yielding up control of one's life, our culture sees this as a weakness, but it is precisely this yielding that allows us to do things the world cannot do!
a. Such as keeping our passions under control
b. Such as forgive others!

ILLUS:
What is true of individuals is true of nations. One cannot forgive too much. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. -- Mahatma Gandhi in Ghandi. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 12.

c. The natural man does not forgive easily! The spiritual person DOES forgive for he or she is enabled to forgive others because they themselves have been forgiven!
5. Our burden is light because Christ has showed us the way and given us the strength to make the journey, He is conditioning us by His Holy Spirit to be like Him!

II. STRENGTH OF GENTLENESS Num. 12:1-16
A. Control  - Read Num. 12:1-9
1. Moses found himself in a difficult situation … his own brother and sister turned on him!
a. How often do Christians find themselves in situations where their own brothers and sisters in Christ become jealous and turn on them?
b. No doubt it was a case of jealousy!
2. They used his marriage to a non Jew as the point of their attack … often jealous people will use things against us that are really NOT the issue!
a. They felt they were used by God too in great ways … so why was Moses top dog?
b. It is interesting to note that GOD heard their gripes … God hears our gripes about others, and HE isn't pleased!
c. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this."
3. Miriam and Aaron were out of control!
4. God however sees Moses as one who is under control … God says Moses is "very humble, more humble than anyone else on the face of the Earth."
a. The concept here in Hebrew is the same as "Gentleness" in Gal. 5:23.
b. Moses demonstrates his humility in the face of jealous accusations, he says nothing! A humble believer doesn't feel the need to rail against his critics, he is under control … it is the natural man that speaks great boasts!