He Never Said It Was Easy
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
Easy – I have always been skeptical of the word “easy.” Easy always comes with a cost hard to pay. Microwave meals make our lives “easy,” but their sodium content does not. Smartphones make our lives “easy,” but their addictive tendencies do not. Everything which comes under the guise of making life “carefree” and “easy” often does not. As Wesley from The Princess Bride once said: “Life is pain. Anybody that says different is selling something.” When we hear “easy” and we see a crowd, we would do well to ask what they’re selling.
At the beginning of the New Year, this reminder of Jesus is most apt. Many of us want a better marriage, better child, better jobs, and a better walk with Christ. And we want it to be “easy,” but who shoulders the cost? What we are actually saying is, “I want my wife to treat me better, my child to obey me more, my job to pay me more, Christ to serve me more.” Ease and comfort are ready-made cloaks for selfish desires – a path that leads to destruction.
What path does Christ provide? “And He said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’” To bear the splinters of the cross is of more value than all the riches of this world, yet what toilsome labor it is! It is hard work. To enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit is of greater joy than when the world’s grain and wine abound, yet it is hard work! Yet there is a big difference – for the hard way that leads to life, the way has been paved and the toll provided up front and in full by Jesus Christ.
Do you want a better marriage? Better children? Better job? Better walk with Christ? Stay near to Jesus. Worship Him every day, especially with His people on His Day. 95% of problems can be solved by regular church attendance. Serve your wife, your children, your boss, your Savior in the same sacrificial manner that He has served you. Take time and pray for them every day, just as your Savior prays for you day and night. “Zach, that sounds hard!” Yes, it is. Anyone who tells you that the Christian life is easy is selling something. To follow Christ means putting your pants on one leg at a time and dying to self, but then taking each and every step in the life that He provides.
