I Like Easy

My wife, Kimberly actually enjoys running.  I don't get that.  I remember reading, that a good, long belly laugh does for your body want a short run would do.  So, I prefer to sit inside the house, open the blinds and laugh my head off at those crazy runners like Kimberly and Joe Tarintino :-)

I just don't get it.  How can they find pleasure in something that I find so difficult.  I mean, I can walk every day and enjoy it, but pick up the pace to a run and...well...no thank you...You see, when it comes to exercise I prefer to keep it easy and enjoyable.  Yes, there, I said it, I have a preference for the easy.  Can I get an "AMEN"?!

I remember when I was a little boy when my Dad was teaching me to ride my bike. I thought I had it down pat and so I wanted to show my grandparents my new skill.  I don't know what happened but suddenly I could not stay upright. I got frustrated.  I wanted to give up.  But my Dad took me aside, got down on his knees, looked me in my eye and said, "Chad, just because it isn't easy, you can't quit. I fell lots of times when I was learning to ride.  You can do this." 

Did you know where my Dad got those words of challenging encouragement?  I don't know if my Dad even knew it or not, but they come straight from Scripture.  1 Peter 4:12, "Do not be surprised at the painful trials you are suffering as though something strange is happening to you."

That's it!  Isn't it?  Truth be known, may be the reason we like it easy is because we are tempted to think it strange when things are not.  When trials and suffering come our way, aren't we all tempted to think, "What is going on?  Why is this happening?  Have I done something wrong and God is trying to get my attention?  How come life has to be so hard?"

Peter, who you might recall was crucified upside down on a cross for his faith in Christ, reminds us what is strange is not that this life is not easy, but it is strange that we would think it will be or ought to be.  Peter is calling us to REFOCUS!   He is saying let your eyes adjust so you can see again that we live in a world full of darkness.  And we, as the Light bearers, chase darkness away and so don't be surprised when the darkness fights back.  In other words, if your life is smooth sailing and easy all the time, then perhaps that is the time to raise questions and think it strange.

That not only applies to us as individuals, but to us as a church family.  The adventure God has called us to follow Him in is not going to be easy.  The enemy wants every church, including ours, to look back rather than look forward; to maintain status-quo; to try to keep everybody feeling happy and comfortable and/or to keep us focused an eternally unimportant issues because he does not want our LIGHT to reveal the lies he hides in the darkness. 

But thanks be to God, Canton First Church is full of bold people who have determined to assume the risk and follow God into a new territory.  Will it be easy? No! Will it be comfortable? No! Will it require sacrifice of personal preferences? Yes!  Is any of that a surprise to us?  Now way!  As Peter says, "Do not be surprised..."

Rather, Canton First family, I invite you to join with me in REJOICING!  Peter goes on to say in verse 13, "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."  Yes, I am rejoicing because a refocus allows us not only to not be surprised by trials, but it allows us even now to begin anticipating the glory God is just waiting to reveal!  Praise God for permission to rejoice even when it is not easy!