Is God's road easy or hard?

General Christian Theology
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To be a Christian...

 
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lesterb
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Is God's road easy or hard?

Post by lesterb »

The NT suggests that the Christian life is difficult. For instance...

[bible]Matthew 7,13-14[/bible]

And...

[bible]1peter 4,17-18[/bible]

See also Hebrews 4:1-13

On the other hand, Jesus said...

[bible]Matthew 11,28-30[/bible]

So what is the balance in this?
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Hats Off
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Re: Is God's road easy or hard?

Post by Hats Off »

Jesus' yoke may be light but it is still a yoke. Words like "strive, labour, sufferings, put to death, work, fight the good fight, endure hardship, I suffer trouble, carefully followed, I press on," and many more indicate that faith requires action, life. We also have the consolation that we are not on our own in this life. The more we submit, the easier it should become. The more we resist, the harder it becomes. And yet the hard times are also the times when victory is nearest; when everything goes according to our desire, we end up further away from God.
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Valerie
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Re: Is God's road easy or hard?

Post by Valerie »

I appreciate Hat's Off perspective-thank you- (haven't picked my answers on the poll yet-)
I'm going to share my thoughts a little here- as far as the balance goes- It seems that we (while here) are in an almost constant battle. We are called 'soldiers' for a reason. We are engaged in spiritual battle, while in this life. It is NOT easy!
The flesh wars against the Spirit, and we are often facing trials and tribulations, temptations- etc-we stumble, we fall, we get back up- wounded warriors at times- moment by moment, seeking His will, vs our own-
Who could say this is easy? We're in war!

Balancing it with what Jesus said, the more we yoke ourselves with Him, the easier it gets in that the world loses it's appeal, our focus is on the heavenly, and we will be looking at things through His eyes and heart, instead of our own- as we through maturing (sanctification) in this manner, will 'have the mind of Christ'. So in that sense, it will be easier- how did Jesus battle the devil? He used God's Word against Him- He was sure of who He was. It seems many of us will have battle scars through this sanctification process, none the less, being yoked with Him, learning from Him, surrending to Him- will be easier to accept the difficult path. That is how we can convey that we have the peace that passes all understanding- the world does not know this kind of peace, which is based on 'circumstances'- but we can have the peace that passes all understanding when we yoke ourselves to Jesus, we can face the battles He will get us through- especially, knowing He lives to make intercession for us-
Maybe this seems like :blah: but I wanted to think this through as I often consider these 'seemingly' contradictory passages- and needing to rightly divide them in understanding and application.
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Sudsy
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Re: Is God's road easy or hard?

Post by Sudsy »

The road is both easy and hard. It takes work and it takes rest. There is suffering and there is abundant life. Loss and gain. I believe we are to pursue a walk with God that despite the negatives, we develop a relationship with God to experience victory over these negatives and experience the many positives. Scripture says Kingdom life is love, unspeakable joy and peace beyond human understanding when we walk in the Spirit. A Christian is in a war with his flesh, the world and evil spirits. At the same time the Christian can experience rest in Christ who has overcome all these foes.

I'm not sure it is a balance to seek but rather a war to be won in daily experience. Being able to enter into the abundant life in the Spirit despite the skirmishes with our foes. I guess my vote would be 'other'.

To be a Christian is to have believed in what Jesus did to save me from my sins and that I, too, will rise from the dead to eternal life. This heart belief makes me into a new creature with desires to follow Christ and enter into real Kingdom living. I don't do this out of obligation but rather out of love for what Christ has done and is doing for me. My salvation depends on what Jesus did for me and my receiving His gift of eternal life. I couldn't work to obtain this, nor can I work to keep this. But I will work because as a new creation I chose to work out my salvation.
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Pursuing a Kingdom life in the Spirit
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