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The Toils of a Christian

I am sure that every individual truly saved by God’s grace and accepted into the Lord’s kingdom through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can enumerate the amazing blessings that being a Christian is, especially when you contemplate the life you used to live and where you may be had the Lord not saved you. You are probably overjoyed at the thought of freedom from sin and so satisfied to know you will someday be with your hope and deliverer, Jesus. I bet you are gleeful just thinking about how God rescued you and you know that you will never be the same! Now you have purpose and meaning in life that you couldn’t find in any of the things that the world had to offer you, and you’ve found peace and truth in His Word and His Spirit! I’m right there with you – I am excited about Jesus!

But, just because we have left the struggles of the world for the pleasures of Jesus, do we experience no further suffering nor tribulation?

Maybe you came to Jesus thinking that your life would be easier with Him than it was in the world.  Perhaps you thought that the Christian life was all about blessings and happiness, and pain was left behind in your old lifestyle. Don’t you wish? That would be nice. Yet, that is not the way that God intended it to be for us.

Really?

Every Christian must struggle, has to endure hardship, is due to face tough times, and will encounter great obstacles. None is exempt from this, as evidenced by Scripture. I cannot recall one Bible character that enjoyed blessing upon blessing without facing times of testing that were downright difficult and unpleasant (If you think of one that I’m forgetting, drop this dude or dudette’s name in the comments below).  The characters we exalt as the greatest were the ones with the toughest of times in their life.  Although you may already know this, it may bear repeating to see a bulleted list of what the greatest of God’s followers experienced in their quest for God and righteousness:

Abraham

• Told to leave his comfortable homeland for a place unknown (Heb. 11:8)
• Feared for his life and the life of his wife (Gen. 20:11-12)
• Told to kill his only son (Gen. 22:2)

Moses

• Eschewed the pleasures of sin and chose to suffer affliction with God’s people (Heb. 11:25)

Joseph

• Betrayed by his own brothers (Gen. 37:23-24)
• Tempted by the Queen (Gen. 39:7)
• Imprisoned (Gen. 39:20)

Daniel

• Put in a den of lions to be eaten alive (Dan. 6:16)

David

• Nearly murdered by the King (1 Sam. 19:1)
• Lost his young son (2 Sam. 12:23)
• Exiled and pursued by his son and son’s army (2 Sam. 17:21)

John the Baptist

• Homeless; survived on bugs and plants (Matt. 3:4)
• Imprisoned; decapitated (John 6:27-28)

Jesus

• Narrowly escaped murder as a baby (Matt. 2:12)
• Ignored and mistrusted in his hometown (Matt. 13:57)
• Betrayed by a follower and close friend (Matt. 26:24)
• Tortured, mocked, and killed in the most painful of means (Matt. 27:42)
• Carried the sins of the entire world as a ransom (John 1:29)

Paul

• Beaten, stoned and imprisoned (2 Cor. 11:24-25)
• Suffered many threats to his life (Acts 23:12)
• Died a martyr

John

• Imprisoned
• Attempted to be killed alive via placement into burning cauldron
• Exiled to uninhabited island to die alone

…and the list goes on past what can be written here.

The people above are our company. They were involved in the same life that we are now – a life of living for God and doing whatever it takes to please Him, even if it means pain and suffering.

When we left the struggles of the world in the past, we picked up new struggles that would define us, including living by faith and not by sight, overcoming sin daily, leading a righteous life, working on our character, being dismayed and disrespected by others, and enduring a longing to be with Jesus that we must carry until we are forever with Him.

This is not easy! In fact, I believe this life to be the hardest life there is, if truly done according to the Bible.

Why?

Because it is a life contrary to what is physically logical, what is accepted as normal, and what we are told to do by society.

Let’s do a comparison of mentalities and actions to show how different the Christian life is from the worldly life. I will use the examples of struggles in the paragraph above as points of comparison.

Living By Faith and Not By Sight

• We believe in a God we have not seen nor heard, and our entire mode of life is based upon what He wants.
• The world believes in what it sees and can experience by physical means. Mode of life is dependant upon what one defines as truth for oneself.

Overcoming Sin Daily

• The Christian life means saying “no” to pleasures and satisfactions that can be very appealing
• The non-Christian life means saying “yes” to anything and everything. “If it feels good, do it.”

Leading a Righteous Life

• Christians are not to step on whomever they wish so that they may reach whatever goals or desires they have for their lives. Christians are to live in holiness, which is to be in fear and reverence of God and His law.
• Non-Christians may do as they please to whomever they please, with only the fear of “karma” as their occasional guide.

Working on our Character

• The character of a Christian must be improving always. Sometimes we are chastened and disciplined by God in uncomfortable and unflattering ways so that we become more humble and more like Jesus.
• The character of a non-Christian may improve, but often for the betterment of oneself, not for the glory of another (God, in the Christian’s case)

Dismayed and Disrespected by Others

• Followers of Jesus encounter painful experiences at the hand of the world due to our belief system and our way of life.
• Though a non-Christian will certainly encounter disrespect among his own, the reason for insult will often be petty and physical in nature.

Enduring an Insatiable Longing for Jesus

• The ultimate pleasure of our lives is to know God personally and experience His Holy Spirit, which is wonderful beyond words. Even though our desire for Jesus can be satisfied on this earth, it is not completely placated by our times with God while we are here. God longs for us to be with Him, and our spirit cries out within us to forever behold Him and live in Him, a feeling that will not be truly satisfied until we are with Him for eternity. Although experiencing God is the pinnacle of joy, it is also a struggle to live in the world when you so badly want to be only with Him.
• Although this is mildly comical, it is yet deeply sad – I have nothing to put here. The non-Christian’s life can be filled with fleeting pleasures, yet they will not last forever.

Be encouraged by the words of Paul:

Romans 8:18 KJV
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

If you are experiencing hardship and trials because of your walk with Jesus, be encouraged that every son and daughter of God before you has endured the same displeasing times, and these times of tribulation have produced greater character, stronger perseverance, and greater intimacy with Jesus as a result. We know that a life lived for Him is hard, yet it contains more purpose and meaning than any other life we can experience!  “Press on” in Jesus’ name.

Live4Jesus,
Matt