Peace Through Difficulties
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
Recently I was having one of those days. I was having a difficult time trying to maintain my Christian walk. In a moment of frustration I put up a post that said, “Sometimes the Christian life is just hard.” What followed was a firestorm of conversation. It seemed everyone has something to say about the matter. I heard everything from agreement to condemnation for my lack of spiritual depth.
In reality, sometimes I’d rather yell at my kids than lovingly guide them in their faith. And humanly speaking, I’d much rather spend my Sunday mornings in the yard rather than sit through another sermon challenging me to love my neighbors as myself.
The truth is that if we find the Christian life a piece of cake we probably aren’t living it. Jesus Himself said that we would be persecuted because they persecuted Him. That doesn’t sound too easy to me.
On the other hand Jesus also said that His yoke would be easy and His burden would be light. This is hard to understand but somehow in the midst of the challenges of the Christian life Jesus gives us strength for the times when we find the Christian life challenging. When I am weak he makes me strong. So in this I find great peace and contentment knowing that He will be beside me all the way.