Doing The Hard Thing

"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."  Matthew 7:14

I don’t know about you, but my human nature doesn’t like hard things.  It would much rather have things easy.  It has a tendency to avoid anything and everything that might be difficult or hard.  

That way of thinking is a product of our Western culture and it is destroying Christianity.  It is contrary to the Way that God has called His followers to.

The farther we travel on this journey, the more we recognize that the easy road and the comfortable place is not where we grow, either.  Note the words of Jesus to Martha after her brother, Lazarus' death in John 11:25-27, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'  She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world'" (ESV).  God was calling Martha to a higher way of thinking and believing.

Notice specifically that Jesus says, "Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."  Jesus makes a distinction between believing and living and believing.  Believing results in life; whereas, everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die.  I think Jesus is telling us that eternal life starts right here, right now for the one who makes their life in Him, having the faith to abide there every day.  

It is a reminder of the life of Enoch as noted in Hebrews 11:5-6, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (ESV).

In Martha's response to Jesus in John 11:27, it is difficult to discern whether or not she truly understood what Jesus was saying to her.  We, too, often fail to grasp the depth of faith God requires in following Him through the narrow gate and along the hard road.

He calls us to make hard decisions, leaving the comfortable place.

But, there is also no greater reward in all the world than living and believing in Jesus.  Are you living and believing in Him?  How deeply rooted is your faith, really?

May we seek Him with all our heart, for it is there we will most assuredly find Him (Deuteronomy 4:29).

I don't know about you, but I've come to love the narrow gate and the hard road because of Who is on it with me.

Goodnight, Runners.