Day 2426 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Titus 2:12 NIV
What God asks us to do isn't easy. It goes against everything that our human hearts desire. That's why we struggle with it. That's why so many eventually give up and walk away from faith. That's why this Christian way of life will never be the most popular way to live. Because it's hard. It asks us to say no to things that our world is saying yes to. It requires us to walk a much different, much more controlled, far more narrow path. But I want us all to remember one very important fact: We have a chance.
We have a chance to be decent people in a very indecent world. We have the chance to be a light in the darkness. We have a chance to live for something more than some shiny trophy or worldly ideal. We have the chance to experience something new and radically different than anything our past lives gave us. We have the chance to experience the eternal reward that a life of faith leads toward. But if we're not willing to do what's hard then we will never fully understand the beauty of the opportunity that lies behind the hard part of faith.
Ungodliness is commonplace in our world today. It's woven into our hearts and minds from the moment we take our first breath. We're all born into sin and we only fall deeper in the older we get. And those habits can be nearly impossible to break. Because they're easy. Because they're normal. Because "everyone else is doing it." But at some point we have to realize that we're the ones living our lives and that we're responsible for living them the best way that we can. And when we understand that eternity is on the line then what's fun or what's easy just doesn't matter anymore.
This is a daily fight that all of us have the choice of taking on or avoiding. Christ calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him. That isn't easy or fun. It isn't enjoyable to bear the humility that helps us see our flaws and weaknesses. It isn't easy to refrain from the way of life that we see everyone around us enjoying. It isn't comfortable living in a constant state of repentance that requires us to acknowledge our sins and ask for God's mercy.
But that's exactly what following Christ demands. That we seek the end of a life lived to please ourselves according to what the world around us enjoys. That we move beyond the selfish dreams and goals that once seemed important and realize that there is something far bigger at hand. That we deny ourselves the comfort and pride of living for our personal glory and live instead to make Him known. We may be inherently selfish, but if we’re going to follow Christ then that isn’t going to cut it.
Let’s just be honest here, “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” are about the last thing that people are interested in these days. It’s about the last thing that people have ever been interested in. Our world is clearly headed the opposite direction! But the opposite direction leads to something far less than what we have the chance to reach by following Christ and refusing to live our lives according to what the world around us is doing or enjoying.
It isn’t easy. It will never be easy. It will be a struggle every day that we’re breathing earthly air because our hearts are bent toward sin and that fact requires us to fight every single day to refuse to gratify those wicked desires. But if we will take up that fight and take up our crosses and deny ourselves the temporary pleasure that comes from all the garbage that our world loves then we will find our rest one day. The hope found in that promise is more than enough to keep us going until we get there.
It may not be easy while we’re on this earth but the earthly leg of this journey doesn’t last forever. We have the chance to trade temporary pleasure, satisfaction, and indulgence for something that will last for all eternity. Walk the hard path. Make the hard choices. Do what our faith requires, not what our hearts desire. There is a difference and it really is a matter of life and death.
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