Why Is Life So Hard?

It all started in the Garden.

As I alluded in yesterday's post, we face the inescapable truth that life is hard. Why? Because we messed up. We went against God's will. In short, we sinned.

The result was what we refer to as The Fall. We fell from the perfect state of unity with God, innocence, and obedience to a state of sin, guilt, and rebellion. The consequence is known as The Curse, which can be found in Genesis 4:13-19.

The long and short of it is this: Life was perfect until we sinned. Now life is full of struggle, pain, and turmoil. Life was easy, until we messed it all up.

We didn't leave sin behind.

You would have thought, being the intelligent creatures we are, that we would have figured this out. Life was good, then we sinned, and life got hard. The obvious answer is . . . don't sin. Right?

Theologically you could argue that even if we didn't sin (which we do), life would still be hard because we inherited the sin of Adam (Romans 5:14). However, the Bible tells us that our sins, apart from the sins of Adam, make our lives harder than they have to be. Let me show you.

John 8:34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." 

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And on and on . . .

Sin made our lives hard. Yet, we keep right on sinning. And in case you don't think the Bible is a good enough source of truth, let's just look at some life examples.

If you murder someone, you go to jail.

If you commit adultery, your life falls apart.

If you lie, it's hard to regain trust.

If you . . . then . . .

Sin has consequences. 

Why is life hard? Because of sin. And while it is true that we cannot go back and undo the sins of Adam, we can certainly stop adding to them.

God has an answer.

I don't want to leave anyone without hope, and hope there is. It is found in the last verse I mentioned above, Romans 6:23. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but God has offered to us the gift of life. That gift is His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Him, and only through Him, can we have eternal life.

And let me tell you something: The Bible says that next life won't be hard at all. There will be no sin, so there will be no struggle, no turmoil, no pain.

That is hope.

Do you have it?

Life's Hard Enough. Don't Be Stupid.

Doesn't matter who said it, there's truth there.

The above little gem of wisdom has long been attributed to the straight-shooting, no-bull Duke. Unfortunately, no one can find a documented instance of him saying those particular words. For our purposes, though, it doesn't matter who first came up with that catchy, easy to remember one-liner.

What matters is that it's true. Life is hard. And yes, it's harder when you do stupid things.

Don't be stupid!

That's the lesson here, and it's simple enough. Just to be clear, by stupid I don't mean unintelligent or mentally challenged. I mean foolish, careless, and senseless. We can't change our intelligence, but we can certainly change how we use it.

We get to choose whether to be stupid or not, as we are using the word today. Every decision we make gets ran though our stupid filter, or at least it should. For example, when faced with flashing red lights in our rear view mirror, we have the choice of pulling over (smart choice), or trying to outrun the police (stupid).  Or when faced with the question, "Does this outfit make me look fat?" . . . well, you get the point.

Getting a ticket is hard. Going to jail is harder. Correctly answering, "Does this make me look fat?" isn't always easy, but a foolish answer will likely make your life more difficult in more ways than one!

Think before you act.

The picture I used today warns of a dangerous cliff edge. What should you do--see how close you can get before you fall off, or keep a little distance? Is the view worth the danger?

Sin is like that cliff. Most of the time, we know what sin is. A lot of sin even comes with warning labels, like the Danger sign above. If a website has the warning of graphic nudity, you probably shouldn't go there. When your friends tell you that person who's been flirting with you is going to be at a party, don't leave your spouse at home and go.

When the flashing red lights appear, stop! The farther you go, the deeper you get, and the worse the consequences. We know this; sometimes we simply shut off our stupid filters.

Not a good idea.

Life is hard. 

That's an inescapable truth that goes way back to a stupid decision made in a once perfect world, and our topic for the week.

Our first lesson is this: Adding more stupidity to the equation won't make things any easier.

Life is hard. It's even harder if you're stupid.

Well said. Whoever said it.

The Greatest Gift

You can earn your way to hell, but not heaven.

That's one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. If we could earn our way to heaven, we wouldn't need a Savior. No longer would God's grace and mercy matter. If we could earn salvation, Christ would be unnecessary.

We cannot. He is not.

The only eternal reward we can earn is everlasting damnation and punishment, weeping and gnashing of teeth, as says the Bible.

Think you can earn God's forgiveness, or outweigh your sins by doing good deeds?

Think again.

Two verses pretty much tell it all.

Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Our verse of the day, Romans 6:23 reads, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

From the first we learn that everyone has sinned. From the second we learn that the wages (payment, reward) for that sin is death (spiritual death, everlasting torment, hell).

Paul does not follow that up to say that the wages of good deeds is forgiveness, or that through working hard we can cancel out our debt and earn our keep.

Nope. Hard work isn't the answer. Doing more good than bad doesn't tip the scales in your favor. One slip up, one sin, and you're done. You can't wipe that out. Ever. The wages for your sin is death.

Except for one thing.

The greatest gift.

The wages of sin is death, but . . . 

As a preacher I heard one day put it, "Hallelujah for the but!"

But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's gift to us is the cancellation of our sin, the replacement of our earned reward of death with the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus.

The greatest gift ever. Period. 

Rules For Holy Living

Words to live by.

That could be the title for Colossians Chapter 3. NIV uses Rules for Holy Living. I guess that will do just as well. This is a chapter where Paul tells us how to live as Christians, and there are some pretty heavy-hitting thoughts in this one page chapter.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (3:2). Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature . . . (3:5). Do not lie to each other (3:9). Bear with each other and forgive . . . (3:13). And over all these virtues, put on love . . . (3:14)

Then comes verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body your were called to peace. And be thankful.

Be thankful for what?

The simple answer is . . . everything! The Bible says this over and over. In James we are told to consider it pure joy (be thankful) when we face hard times. In the Book of Psalms, David gives thanks to the Lord over and over, in good times and in bad. Jesus thanked God for hearing Him (John 11:41). The list goes on and on.

The message is we are to be thankful at all times.

What does it mean to be thankful?

One definition of thankfulness is feeling or showing gratitude. This brings us to our topic at hand.

Gifts.

Yesterday we learned that Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Nowhere in there does it say that receiving is not a blessing. Nowhere in there does it say we are not to be thankful when we receive a gift.

Nowhere.

If you can't receive a gift with thankfulness, you can't receive Christ.

In fact, in Mark 10:15 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 

Have you ever seen a child receive a gift? Their eyes light up, their smile swallows their face, and everything else disappears for that moment in time. That gift, no matter how simple, is received with true thankfulness.

We could learn a lot from a child.

Learn to receive.

Now that we're all grown up (or so we say), we sometimes allow our grown-up emotions to ruin the joy of receiving. We let the false ideas of guilt, obligation, or quid pro quo (literally, "something for something") get in the way. We take the idea that there's no such thing as a free lunch too far.

We've forgotten to be thankful. We've forgotten how to receive. As a child. With thankfulness.

Give thanks.

Going back to Colossians 3, verse 17 says this: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Whatever you do. Whether in word or deed.

Be thankful. Life is a gift. Salvation through Jesus is a gift.

If you can't accept the smallest gift from man, how will you ever truly receive the greatest gift from God?    

  

Better to Give Than Receive

A whole lot of giving going on.

Depending on your perspective, this past weekend we either enjoyed or endured one of the most popular gift-giving occasions of the year. Valentine's Day is the second most popular card and gift-giving occasion on the calendar, behind only Christmas, with Mother's Day a close third.

That's a whole lot of giving.

How did it make you feel?

If you took part in this giving and receiving bonanza, how did it make you feel? More to the point, which gave you greater joy--getting a gift, or giving one?

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty here. I believe that most people will honestly say they prefer to give a gift rather than receive one. Sure, getting something from someone as a sign of friendship, love, and affection is nice. It makes us feel good, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But there is something about giving, something that reaches down inside us and gives us a great satisfaction and joy. When we receive a gift, there is a bit of selfishness involved, and we all know being selfish is wrong. When we give, on the other hand, we put ourselves to the side and focus on someone else.

It's freeing. It's pure. It is truly the greater blessing.

Want to feel that more often?

If we feel good when we give, why don't we do it more? I mean, most anything else in life that makes us feel good, we do whenever we get the chance. Why not this?

I think I'll just leave it at that.

May God bless the givers.

For those who give to us all--our military, our pastors, our teachers, members of our law enforcement, and so many more--may God bless you greatly. Your selfless giving is not unnoticed. From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you. 

And to those of you who give me the gift of your support by reading these blogs, making comments, and encouraging me--my sincerest thanks to you as well.

Because while giving is the greater blessing, there is certainly joy in receiving.

That's what I'm going to talk about tomorrow. 

 

Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness

Using big words means you're smart, right?

Not really. Not unless the person you are talking to understands what you are saying. Otherwise, you're just spitting into the wind.

In case you don't know, that's counter-productive. I know. I've done it.

Christianity is full of big words.

Substitutionary atonement. Propitiation. Eschatology. Hermeneutics. Transubstantiation. Dispensationalism.

Don't know some of those words, or all of them? Don't worry. My spell-checker doesn't know a few of them either. That doesn't mean my word processing program is worthless. What it means is I've thrown a word out there that a lot of people have never heard, will never use, and really don't care what it means.

That's my mistake, not yours.

Big words have a place. Keep them there.

Going to a Christian symposium on the End Times? Feel free to throw around dispensationalism and eschatology. Talking to your unsaved friend about how to get to heaven? You're probably best served to leave substitutionary atonement and propitiation in your Bible dictionary at home.

You see, big words are great in that they convey an exact meaning of what we want to say--but only if everyone involved understands what they mean. Substitutionary atonement or Christ died for our sins; Which do you think most people would understand?

Know your audience.

If you want to introduce someone to Christ, understand where they are. If they know what these big words mean, you're not having a Let me introduce you to Jesus conversation. You're preaching to the choir.  Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying know who you're talking to and bring it to their level.

If you're talking to someone who has never been to church, hasn't read the Bible, and isn't into reading dictionaries for fun, don't break out 5 dollar words when 50 cents will accomplish more. After all, there really isn't that much difference between saying, My eschatological opinion is . . . as opposed to here's what I believe is going to happen in the end, is there?

Not a dime's worth of difference, if you ask me.

I started this week by saying I love words, and that's true. And yes, I like big words. I'm even guilty of throwing one out there every now and then. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes it just happens. But I try to be mindful of who I'm talking to, and if they're with me or not. If not, I don't dumb it down, I smarten it up. You see, if I'm trying to say something, and I don't make myself clear, who's the dumb one?

Being sesquipedalian isn't a compliment. It means using unnecessarily big words to convey a message better communicated by common language. And loquaciousness? That's the gift of gab. Using too many words to say something.

Sesquipedalian loquaciousness. Excessive diarrhea of the mouth.

Doesn't sound so glamorous now, does it?

Talking Trash

I don't know anyone who likes junk mail.

Whether it be spam, snail-mail, telemarketers, or political cold-calls (love those, don't you?)--I don't see the point. I throw away a good half of the mail I get (sorry to the letter carriers) without even opening it. As for spam--that's automatically filtered out. And political calls or telemarketers? 5 second conversation. Tops.

I simply don't have the energy or time to waste. I know someone expended a lot of resources getting that particular piece of communication to me, but as far as I'm concerned, it's trash.

The same is true when we talk.

I'm no Puritan. I've used about every word you're not supposed to use as every conceivable part of speech. I'm not proud of it, just being honest. What came from all that effort, all that mastery of the English language?

Nothing.

The breath used to utter those unwholesome words was wasted. What poured out of my lips was trash, pure and simple. No better than the credit card offers and letters congratulating me on my free trip to Cancun cluttering my mailbox.

A big fat waste of time and oxygen.

I'd have been better off saying nothing at all.

Thumper's momma in the movie Bambi had it about right: If you can't say something nice, don't say nuttin' at all. 

 In Ephesians 4:29 Paul says it this way: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

No unwholesome talk. Only what is helpful. Building others up according to their needs. That it may benefit those who listen.


If you can't say something useful, don't say nuttin' at all.

I told you that lady rabbit wasn't far off. I've referenced profanity above, but that isn't all Paul is talking about. He's talking about words that tear down instead of build up. He's talking about tripping others up with your words instead of helping them along. He's talking about casting shadows instead of being the light we are called to be.

If your words are not useful, they're trash. Junk mail. Hopefully, whoever you're talking to has a good spam filter, but what if they don't? What if that virus you just sent out finds it's way into their network of friends and family?

It could lead to a whole system crash.

Think before you speak.

Words are powerful. Satan loves to talk. God's Word is eternal. Those are the three previous blogs this week. Think about those things before you say anything.

Understand that what you say will have an impact.

Even if you're just talking trash.