I did it again today, Googled the word “easy” in one of my searches.
“Easy Keto meals,” was what I typed.
I have become sensitive to the word “easy” lately as my man and I have been having a “discussion” on this particular word. He thinks that I say it too much and consistently look for the easiest route in some circumstances. And although it hurt my feelings that he thinks this about me…and even though it made my defenses go up…and even though I could justify my stance…he is right.
In my flesh, I do like “easy” and I will take it over “hard” every.
single.
time!
I freely admit that I like things to be easy in life and I even feel justified in that. I can look around myself and name all the “not easy” elements that I live with on a daily basis.
Yet, I still feel compelled to prove my point in saying that “I like easy” doesn’t equate to, “I am lazy.”
It’s something that I am working through but haven’t really come to terms with.
While I don’t have to go out and seek the hardest possible route, I also need to learn to embrace the difficult circumstances and use them as opportunities to lean into Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t call us to easy.
That is a fact. There are some teachers out there these days that preach a false gospel and tell us that “if we follow Jesus, life will be easier”. This is not true. We will have peace when we follow Jesus. We will have an everlasting hope when we trust in His promises. We will grow in the fruits of the spirit. However, even Jesus tells us that life will not be “easy”.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.
The world is the voice that says “make things easy” for yourself. We are inundated with the word. Easy meals, easy cleaning routines, easy schedules, easy homeschool tips, easy hairstyles, easy, easy, easy. Why are our human natures so prone to take the easy way out? Why am I so prone to seek for the path of least resistance?
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few," Matthew 7:13-14.
The opposite of “easy” is “hard” and who wants hard? Who goes out seeking hard? Maybe you can name a handful of very motivated people who have a unique internal drive that causes them to put forth their best foot every single day, never cut corners, and seek excellence in all they do. I wish I was one of those people, but I am not.
I like easy people. I like easy situations. I like easy routines. I even like to make the things in my children’s lives “easy”. I have to fight against this flesh of mine on a daily basis to not chose the easy way out.
Yet, there is an unfolding that I am witnessing.
While I am not sure if I will ever be one who seeks out difficult situations, they certainly continue to come my way. And it is in these “hards” that the Lord does the best refining in my heart and soul. It is in the inconveniences when I am pressed that I see my own sin that is hidden deep in the crevices of my heart.
Through the trials, in the struggle, and amidst the battle, something great is happening within my heart.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing,” (James 1:2-4).
So as much as I hate to admit it, my man is right. I do like “easy” and “easy” isn’t always best.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20.
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