At least several times a day, someone says, “Dr. Dixie, I’m so frustrated by how HARD things are. Parenting is HARD, work is HARD, marriage is HARD…everything is HARD. I don’t think I signed up for this! I thought by now life would be easier!”
We Americans relentlessly pursue easy because we erroneously confuse
easy with better. This attitude is expressed in commercials, like the office product store that features an “easy button”. Push the button and all problems are instantly solved. Fairy tales and 30-minute sit-coms reinforce the lie that there’s a magic word, wand or pill that will immediately fix everything, with little effort or no change on our part.
Because we believe the lie, we’re offended that life doesn’t have an “easy button” and we’re forced to exert more effort than we want, to get what we think we deserve. But the Bible declares that an untried, unchallenged life always ends in lack of spiritual and emotional tenacity.
Untested believers cannot effectively accomplish God’s work on earth because they’re focused on self, not God. Difficult circumstances present the opportunity to choose to focus on God, just as Adam and Eve were allowed to choose in Eden. It’s our choices, not our circumstances, that determine whether we mature or continue in childishness.
James 1:3-4; Hebrews 10:36: “Understand that trials simply produce proof that your faith exists, by bringing out endurance, steadfastness and patience... now you let this do a thorough work, so you’ll be fully developed, lacking in nothing…You need steadfast patience and endurance, so you may fully accomplish God’s will and thus receive fully what is promised.”
A strength trainer develops stronger muscles by lifting increasingly heavier weights. In the same way, spiritual and emotional endurance grows when we respond to adversity with patience and trust. When we escape into TV, internet, food, sex or drugs, attempting to avoid discomfort, or when we push our personal responsibilities onto others, we stay self-centered and immature; spiritually “flabby” and weak.
Power and resistance are two essential ingredients for flight. As the engines push the plane against the resistance of the wind, lift is created and the airplane soars into the sky. The awesome power of the Holy Spirit cannot operate effectively when we sidestep the resistance of discomfort and difficulty. Always looking for the path of least resistance—the “easy button”— keeps us from soaring fully into God’s best for us.
King David acknowledged the value of difficulties: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but after affliction, I keep receiving, loving, and obeying Your Word.” (Psalm 119:67) We all “signed up for this” simply by being born human in a sin-broken world. Because of sin, life cannot ever be consistently easy, but no matter how or why the hard things come, God promises to be at work in everything for our benefit. God’s goal is not to make life easy, but to bring us to full maturity through the hard things caused by sin.
Romans 5:1-5: “Since we are given a right standing with God through faith, now let us enjoy peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we enter into grace by faith…let us also be full of joy now! Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure, affliction and hardship produce the patient, unswerving endurance that develops maturity of character and integrity. Character of this sort produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.
Earthly life is meant to be a meaningful partnership with God Himself!
For questions and answers: Infinite Grace Ministries 1414 Cypress Drive P.O. Box 1414 Weatherford, OK 73096 580- 774- 2884 Facebook: Infinite Grace Ministries media use, says Tom Cooper, PhD, author of How to Clear Your Mind and Invigorate Your Life in an Age of Media Overload. “Your family will become closer, you’ll save time, sleep better, feel healthier, and probably even lose weight.”
If technology is adversely affecting communication in your family, a media journal is a good place to begin reducing screen time. Dieters track food consumption to know what and where to cut back. Beginning a family media diet by tracking usage can be quite an eye-opener. We’re often unaware how much time we spend on the internet, TV, and texting. Keeping a record of when a device being used and for how long, will give each one a better idea of how time is being spent. After logging for five days, decide as a family how you can spend more time engaging without screens.
Call 580-774-2884 to learn how to reduce technology-time, giving you more time to enjoy God and people.
