Is being a Christian easy or hard?
I have said in my early years, before I became a Christian, that “The Jesus freaks had it easy,” They used Jesus as a get out of jail free card and they lived in a fantasy of the Golden Life.
When I first accepted Christ as my savior, I found this unexplainable joy and excitement. It was great; I was full of anticipation. Just like an infant, everything was a new and it felt like a different experience. I remember saying how vivid the colors of creation were as I drove home from work. My capacity to love other people multiplied, and my willingness to change were met with a willing spirit.
Thirty years later, I still wrestle with the very things I found hope and joy three decades ago.
I am confronted with the reality which Paul came to realize when he said, “What a wretched man am I.” And I, too, fall in the same pattern as him:
Romans 7:14-20
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:21-25
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind, am a slave to God’s law. But in my sinful nature, I am a slave to the law of sin.
So, is being a Christian easy or hard?
I think it comes down to grasping the meaning of Paul’s writing in Romans 8:1-2: Life Through the Spirit (1) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (2) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Living with the results of our actions apart from Christ is extremely hard but living in the grace of God through His son, Jesus, is true freedom.
When we claim the truth of our almighty God that we are free, then what can be easier than to live this life that way?
God has said from day one that He is with us, not against us. He has forgiven us through the extreme measure of the death of His Son. But even beyond that, He still reminds us that He will never leave us. He will walk every trial with us and strengthen us along the way. That He has won the battle to overcome the world and as His children, so have we.
So, what is hard about being a Christian? Nothing.
What is hard about living apart from God? Everything.
Just a Thought…
