Do The Hard Things

A great plague ravished the countryside of Israel from Dan to Beersheba.  Seventy thousand men died.  Their king, David, had sinned.  As a result, God had sent down the plague.  David cried out to the Lord, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house” (2 Samuel 24:17).

God replied and asked David to erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  David went as the Lord commanded.  He approached Araunah and asked to purchase the threshing floor.  The man told him he could have the threshing floor and oxen for the burnt sacrifice for free.  However, “the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing’” (2 Samuel 24:24).

Unfortunately, we too often try to get the “free” version of Christianity.  We don’t want to do anything that will cost us an effort.  We will only read our Bible as long as it doesn’t hinder with any of our other problems.  We pray only when absolutely necessary because it’s simply “too hard.”  We don’t want anything that requires an effort on our part.

Yet how wrong this belief really is.  Think about it.  What comes without a price?  A good marriage is only fostered by hard work.  A good education is only possible through diligence.  A good meal doesn’t suddenly appear on the table.  A clean house doesn’t just happen.  It takes work.  Everything good in this world takes work.  Why should we expect it to be any other way with our relationship with God?

It’s going to take work. It’s going to take effort. Sometimes, it will be hard to find time in our schedule to spend time with Him.  But it is absolutely necessary.

Just as David refused to get buy with the “free” version of Christianity, so should we be diligent in pursuing a relationship with the Lord even when it is hard.  After all, think of the reward!

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”  ~Revelation 2:14

This promise was given to the church of Ephesus.  Christ called them to return to their first love and go back and do the things they did at the beginning. What might those things have been?  When you love someone, you spend time with them.  You try to get to know them.  When we love God we try to get to know Him. That is what Jesus was called the church at Ephesus to do, and that is what He is calling us to do today, even though it is not easy.  And he who overcomes will eat of the tree of everlasting life and live in the Paradise of God.

This is just one of the many benefits that come from not taking the easy route.  Although hard and narrow, the end destination of this way is life everlasting. Let us not settle for less.  Let us choose to deny ourselves and make time in our schedule to spend time with Him.  Let us do the hard things, knowing that they bring the greatest reward.