I'm being challenged lately to do hard things, be it from reading
Joshua Harris' brothers' antics on tour in the USA (yes, I am a follower of Christian culture), to reading books that encourage me to study God's word, to these words from Scripture that remind me that I have a part to play in my growth in faith (sanctification):
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." - Luke 6:46-49
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for
it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Philippians 2:12-13
Do you know what my instinctive response to this is? "My life is
hard, harder than most people's. Why would I want to make it even harder?" What a
rubbish response.
Life is hard, but I live in a country in which life is easier than for most of the rest of the world. I'm thankful for the conveniences that living in the UK affords; I'm not all about dissing my culture, heck we moved from my homeland for that reason. But I do often find myself more feeling sorry for me than working out my salvation with fear and trembling, counting the cost of obeying God, being a real disciple.
I'm running a half-marathon in September (feel free to
sponsor me and support the work of Tearfund) and training for it is supposed to be
hard. The temptation (and to be honest, higher likelihood these days) is to buy junk food on the long commute back from work, when I'm feeling weakest, than to hold on till I get home, and can eat something much more beneficial to my training.
When I get back home from work really drained, the easy thing to do is to sit down and 'relax' in front of the TV rather than meet with God, prepare dinner, read a book.
I'd rather sin, and indulge in unhelpful things because they mean for me comfort today in a country I deem to be lonely and generally rather unfriendly.
I would rather, and my daily actions show it, do easy things than hard things.
So my resolve is, with God working in me, to change this, and do hard things! To ignore (or better, rebuke) that voice that says, "Aw hell, my life is too hard" and become a proper grafter, reading books that honour Jesus and trying to put them into action, and charting my growth on this here blog. This is a challenge! Watch this space.
