But it’s the best thing you’ll ever do!
If you’ve accepted God’s terms for salvation, you’re on the path to heaven. Thank the Lord! Now, to be sure, there are two realistic views of life as a Christian. In some ways, the Christian life is the most difficult thing you’ll ever do, and in other ways, it’s the easiest thing to do.
What makes it difficult? Obstacles! Jesus warned us about these in Matthew 7:14, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
First of all, folks looking for heaven must squeeze through a narrow gate. It can be done, but the seeking, believing, repenting, confessing, and baptizing have their own difficulties.
It takes an effort to believe that Jesus really is God’s Son, and that He is Lord of everything (including you and me). An in-depth study of the resurrection story leads to the proper belief.
Now, repenting means we’re going to stop our sinful ways, and that’s difficult after living life with them and for them. It has to be done, else we’re not sure about the Christian Life.
Then there’s confession. There’s absolutely no use in confessing Jesus as Lord unless we truly believe He is.
Of course, there’s baptism. People have been quibbling over it for centuries.
For me, Jesus said to do it, the apostles preached it, and evangelists taught it. If the Lord said it must be done, then it’s a command. If He is truly my Lord, I’m not going to argue with Him about it. I’ll do it! You should too! Read Acts 2 — it’s the first gospel sermon after Jesus ascended to the Father.
Then, there are more obstacles. How hard is it to bless the driver who just cut you off? Or the guy behind, tailgaiting? How about social drinking? Peter said that’s enough of that in 1 Peter 4:3. Overall, morality can be difficult. My eyes see the baubles of earth and beautiful people. I need to retrain my mind to see less of the world and more of Jesus.
Whew! Difficult stuff.
But what about the easy stuff? The easy stuff comes after some Christian growth. 2 Peter 1:5-7 says this…
“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”
As a Christian, I definitely want to please the Lord Jesus with excellent morals. I also want more knowledge about God and His plan of salvation. For sure, I need self-control, and I need to learn patience. I want my life to reflect godliness in all I do and say. I also need to practice love for my brethren and for those who’ve not yet made the good confession.
It takes a while to get there. But the results are awesome. Love, joy, and peace are ours as we live the Christian life. Those are practically unheard of in our fast-paced worldly lifestyle.
Peace, content with whatever we have, and having no fear of judgment.
Joy, gladness of heart for salvation, brethren, and heaven.
Love keeps the universe expanding.
The result? Well, we can see that Christian life is both easy and challenging. But it’s worth all we can do or give to see us through, all the way to heaven.
Garland Van Dyke
garland.churchofchrist@gmail.com
Matthews St. church of Christ
1915 Matthews St., Bay City, TX. 77414