Admittedly I have had a fairly long stretch of things going quite smoothly in life. As a believer in Jesus it should really come as no surprise that I suddenly feel anything but that things are going smoothly. These times of "suffering" are part of our life as Christians, but it's often what non-believers view as our weakness."If you'd just let loose and be free from the bondage of religion, you'd be happy".
And you know what, I bet they are right.
I would be happy - on earth. I would do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and be accountable to nothing and no one. Not that as a non-believer a person lives a life of debauchery and disregard the law. That's not what I'm saying at all. There are a lot of people who don't believe in God who are great people. However, the only thing they are living for is the present. What I am living for is for the life I will have after this one.
The Bible never says that life on earth will be a cake walk. It says 100% opposite of that. Life on earth will be tough. Why? Because for one, this is not the home we were meant to live in forever. Here there are hurts, pains, sadness, sorrows, and above all, sin. We were built to live in a place like the garden of Eden. A place of perfect life. When life feels hard, painful, sad and difficult, it's because our bodies, minds and souls are longing for the permanent home of Heaven.
And it's tough living here on earth because as Christians we can and will be attacked by Satan. Why would he spend much time attacking those who already don't believe, or believe in something that isn't true? He won't. He will only try to win the souls of those who matter... the Christians. So we can expect trials and tribulations, and pain, sorrow, sadness, and all these things to come at us a lot stronger and moreso than others. I totally believe that. And that's why we are slowly seeing the decay of man's acceptance of Christianity in the world. In time, we will no longer be able to have the freedom we have now. Day after day I already see how people want us to keep quiet, keep our thoughts and beliefs to ourselves, and accept their ideas. I even have people posting things to me on Facebook - Scientists trying to disprove the theory of Creation, and "funny" little anecdotes about how Atheists have all the fun.
So I just had a nice long little break - guess Satan was busy elsewhere. I got content, and got into a groove that was working nicely for me and my family. I was feeling good about myself, and even survived a bit of a blow from someone who wanted to take me down a few notches. And now I've been attacked, pushed around, and I'm upset. I'm trying to "count it all joy", look at my blessings, and work my way out of this battle. But it's just that - a battle. It's not easy, and that "Easy Button" ad campaign gets me a little annoyed. I mean, where is that button when I need it? Why wasn't I assigned one upon accepting Christ as my Saviour?
The truth is that when I accepted Jesus, I wasn't accepting an easy-out route. It wasn't saying, "Yay! Now I get to travel in style on the wide open road!". No, accepting Jesus is accepting a hard life. A life on the long and narrow road. A road less travelled. But where that road leads to is where I desire to be.
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