Skip to main content

Easy Street?







Come to Christ, they said; your life will be perfect, they said.  If your life is all messed up, follow Christ and your life will be perfect.  How many times have you ever heard this?  All of this sounds great, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work out like this.  Our life does not become instantly happy because and lovely just because we put our trust and faith in Christ.  In fact, often our life gets harder.  Instead of life on easy street we feel like we go straight from the frying pan to the fire.  Instead of everything getting easier, we find ourselves facing opposition, being ridiculed and persecuted.  Saul was on his way up the religious ladder.  He was persecuting followers of Jesus, for him, everything was looking up.  He met God and he was changed.  In an instant, he went from the persecutor to being persecuted.  For him, everything got suddenly harder.   In fact listen to Saul/Paul tell us about his life “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”  Friends, this does not sound like a good time.  Yet Paul says it’s all worth it if others follow Christ. Likewise we should not be surprised when we encounter problems as a Christian.  I am sure that some of the problems is a spiritual battle.  In short, They are Satanic attacks.  Satan wants to discourage us and tries to convince us to give up our Christian walk. Jesus never promised an easy life as a Christian.  What he does say is that it would be worth it, that he would be there with us when the storms rage and the waters rise.  What a comfort to know that God promised to go with us no matter what happens. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Live Fearlessly

                                   As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the    road.  Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride.  As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping.  I could have and should have but I didn't. Why?  I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid.  It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into  overdrive.  Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting.  Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy.  As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid.  Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know.   As I was driving away from a missed opportunity, I began thinking about what it is that makes us afraid.  I honestly am not sure what it is that causes us to be afraid when we should be bold, but I
Post a Comment
Read more

Tragedy: A Christian Response

I want to start by telling you a story.  We were new parents.  When Our oldest, a son, was about eighteen to twenty months we had another baby, a girl with brown hair and huge eyes.   One day as I went to feed her, my son who may have been two at the time wandered off to another part of the house.  The next thing I heard was a thud.  I grabbed my baby girl and ran to see what happened.  There was my son with a table on top of him.  He had pulled it over on himself and more blood than I had ever seen was running all over.   We put him in the car and dashed for the ER.  It was not a fun trip. He had a skull fracture and many stitches.  Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years, I’m at a stop light and watch my youngest daughter about ten start across a street on a bike start across a street just as a truck comes around a corner into the path of the bike.  She hit the side of the truck and bounced onto the road.   I grabbed her up and checked her over there were no injuries, but
Post a Comment
Read more

Just A Word of Praise!!

  On Sunday, after church, we went to a town about thirty minutes away.   On the way we drove through an area where they were working on the road.  It was no big deal.  We had lunch, bought some food for the week, and drove back home.    Later, as we were on our way to church for the evening service, I heard the ominous flapping sound that a tire makes when it’s flat.  Yikes!  I pulled over and while I was debating how I was going to change a tire.  A car coming in the opposite direction drove by and stopped.   As the driver appeared from the vehicle, I recognized him as a neighbor and fellow believer.  He approached the car, and asked if I had an air compressor to inflate the tire.  My answer, “Yes, but I’m not sure how good it is.  I’ve never actually managed to inflate a tire using it. I may not be using it properly.”   I produced it from the trunk of the car and handed it to him.  Within a few minutes, he had it hooked up and running.   As it turned out, I was using it properly,
Post a Comment
Read more