“Why is my life as a Christian so hard? It wasn’t this hard before.” That has been spoken or thought by many new Christians. Maybe you’ve thought it too. Before there was no pang of conscience when you did whatever made you happy. There were no strange looks, but now you see them on your friends’ faces when you go to church. There were no conflicts in your conversations, but now you feel the “archaic” and “close-minded” labels being pinned to your back because of Scripture. You realize that striving to please self (before) was a whole lot easier than striving to please Jesus (now). Being a Christian is hard.
Jesus said as much. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25). A wise theologian once commented, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.” In other words, the more I live in Christ’s words, the more I die and the more he lives in me. That’s the goal of the Christian life. I want my weakness, my sin, my insecurity, my _________ to die. In its place Jesus fills me with his strength, his forgiveness, the confidence that comes from him, and … ultimately, he exchanges the cross I carry in this life as a Christian for the crown of heaven.
So, yes, being a Christian is hard but worth it! God’s blessings as you lose your life today and find it in Christ.
