easy

Jesus' grace is free, but YOUR calling is not. Jesus never said it would be easy, He simply said He would carry you...
 

I am pretty sure that in the bible Jesus never says “hey follow me, it’ll be easy and you won’t have to do anything, ever!” 

I think that Jesus created us with a hole in our hearts that only He can fill. I also think Jesus created us to desire to serve Him and when we don’t, we have this heavy heart. Jesus died so that our sins may be wiped away and so that we may spend eternity with Him. He already knows who will say yes, but (I think) He always hopes that everyone will say yes. Through this, Jesus also created each person for a purpose or a certain calling. Jesus knew that it wouldn’t be easy, He knew this even for the disciples. 

Jesus never called us because it was easy, He called us for His glory. We will never experience the fullness of the God’s glory until we get to Heaven, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t work every day towards glorifying His name today more than yesterday. 

·      -What if bringing glory to God was easy?

·      -What if being in youth ministry for almost 20 years, was easy?

·      -What if taking care of strangers babies, was easy?

·      -What if flying (too long) on a plane to a 3^rd world country, was easy?

·      -What if standing in front of a pulpit every Sunday, was easy?

·      -What if taking care of the homeless, was easy?

·      -What if steering children in the way of the word of God, was easy?

·      -What if waking up every morning and working a 9-5 job, was easy?

·      -What if stepping into the calling of your life, was easy?

YES, as times these things are easy. And YES, so many times, I make this calling on my life sound easy. But are any of these things easy 100% of the time? The best part about stepping into the arms of Jesus and allowing Him to capture your heart is that even when you are at the lowest point, JESUS is the one sitting next to you holding your hand and wrapping His arms around you. When we allow Jesus to, engulf the deepest (& most shallow) parts of heart, we are not only saying YES to Him, we are saying NO to ourselves. It’s an interesting idea that we need to die to live but it’s true. 

“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father. But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”-Matthew 8:18-22

We may not have to literally give up everything, but Jesus warns that even He has nowhere to lay his head. Thankfully Jesus’ grace and love are bigger than how we feel. Jesus knows that what He is asking of us, is not easy and that is comes with a certain kind of burden that must be carried, gracefully Jesus never makes us do it alone. Jesus will carry you through the hard stuff and He will skip with you through the easy stuff. 

“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

Jesus never said it would be easy, but He did say it would be worth it….how about eternity with Him?

Thank you Jesus for this extraordinary life, and this incredible calling.