1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you
greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
One of
the consequences of our desire for things to be easy has been the lowering of
our standards. For example, some educators want to eliminate the grading of
students’ work so that no one feels like a failure. Many states allow anyone to
enroll in a State university without regard for their performance in high
school. Morally we continue to lower our standards to not only allow but
condone every kind of sexual expression.
When
things are hard, we often cry foul. We often react like spoiled children who
can’t understand why they can’t have what they want when they want it. The idea
of negative consequences for our actions is seen as unproductive and an
imposition on our freedom.
On a
much deeper level, when negative things do happen in a person’s life, they
often get mad at God or at life itself. “I’m a good person, why did this happen
to me?” When I was working as an associate chaplain at the hospital, I often
heard people express their frustration when something bad happened to them. I
vividly remember one case where the person kept saying, over and over again, I
haven’t done anything wrong. Why is this happening to me?
Subtly
this idea that life should be easy has filtered into the church at every level.
We invite people to come to faith in Christ because He will solve all of their
problems. We promise them a “better” life. Some churches take this even a step
farther by promising that if we put our faith in Christ, we will never get sick
and we will be blessed financially. Come to faith in Christ and enter into a
life of ease!
None of
this is supported by what the Bible has to tell us. In fact, Jesus made it very
clear that to follow Him was to choose the harder, not the easier path. Then
he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23) That doesn’t sound
like the easy life to me.
Several
years ago, I began to run seriously. I set my sights first on running a seven-mile
cross country race and eventually raised my sights to running a half marathon. In order to accomplish my goal, I had to
endure the pain of running every day. Once a certain length of run, say one mile,
became easy for me, I had to increase it to the next level. Yesterday I went
out and ran six miles. The first mile was hard, but with each successive mile
it got a little easier. It would have been much easier to stay home and watch
TV, but that would not have done much for my overall wellbeing. I run today
primarily for my health and not to run a race, but the effort is the same. In
order to gain the benefit, I have to put in the effort.
The Apostle
Paul equates the Christian life to running a race. He makes it clear that in
order to gain the benefits of our faith we need to put in the hard work. As he
said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Do you not know that in a race all the
runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the
prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it
to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last
forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight
like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that
after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the
prize.
If I
don’t work my physical muscles, they become weak. If I don’t work my spiritual
muscles, they also become weak. Always seeking the easy path doesn’t lead to “winning
the race.” Peter tells us that the path that leads to the salvation of our soul
goes through struggle. Like professional athletes who endure grueling training
in order to win the big game, we must go through trials and hardships to
strengthen our spiritual muscles. Peter says that it is God’s refining process;
to make our faith even more precious than fine gold.
The
church in America has been on a pretty easy path during my lifetime. Compared
to many other places in the world, we have been on easy street. That may be
changing. In many ways it already has. We can ring our hands and complain to
God, or we can buckle down and endure hardship as a good soldier of the cross.
God is in the process of refining His church, and it will not be pain free. But
the outcome, if we endure, will be a crown of glory. As Paul says, Let us
not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest
if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
2 Timothy 2:3
Endure hardship
with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
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I have been reading Philip Yancey's book "Vanishing Grace". I want to recommend it to you. Although it was written several years ago, it speaks powerfully to the world in which we live today.
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