Mountain

If the mountain was smooth you couldn’t climb it.  I heard this yesterday and I thought about it and how true it was.  How true this seems to be in many believers’ lives.  Many believers like to take the road of least resistance, a road without any obstacles, ruts, turns or hills, just smooth sailing, so to speak. 

They seek out those that will inspire them but not tell them the whole truth.  There is nothing wrong with being inspired, and you may need that for a season, but if that is all you seek you will never have a balance in your life and you will always run from the ‘iron sharpens iron’ theology that helps build your faith and your walk with the Lord.  I remember when I was a street person, doing my own thing and living like the devil.  I would go to the Catholic Church with a friend of mine and go through the motions watching what everyone else did, kneeling and standing when I should and when I left I felt very good about myself, but it never changed me on the inside.  It was sort of like putting a bandage on a cut that would never heal because it lacked the medicine it needed for the healing process to begin so that the cut could be healed.  I am not picking on Catholics, I was just looking for a fix and I got it.  It was sort of like when I used drugs, I would take a pill or smoke a reefer so I would get a momentary high just to be let down so I would have to go back for another fix.

This is what will happen if all you listen to are the inspirational speakers.  Jesus said, “if you know the truth the truth would set you free.”  He didn’t say if you know only half the truth it will set you free.  I know it may not be popular to hear the gory details of the crucified Christ and the suffering He experienced on the cross and of the gory details of the blood that flowed from His veins for the redemption of man and their reconciliation to God, but the Word says this in Hebrews 9:22, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Without our sins being washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, our sins could never have been forgiven and we would be eternally lost and separated from God.  Without the conviction of God’s Holy Spirit and God removing the veil from our eyes that Satan used to blind us from the truth, we would have never known the truth and repented and been forgiven, so this truth needs to be told.  This should be what is told to inspire people!  This is the good news!  This is the medicine that will heal your soul and change your life!  

All the inspirational messages will stir your emotions and make you feel good, mostly on the outside, but will have no effect on the inside where the change needs to take place.  Think of this, you can be emotionally stirred every day and never take the road of resistance but then when you are blindsided with a crisis or hit with a very hard trial you will be devastated and maybe so overwhelmed by what you are facing that you give up and throw in the towel, so to speak, becoming very bitter and angry at God.  Sometimes God may want to take you through a storm, and not around it, to teach you something but you may dig in you heels kicking and screaming and take the road of least resistance which will end up causing you more pain and also confusion.

Like Pastor Chip Ingram says, we need to learn to suffer well and I am sure the disciples and many others would agree with that also.  We live in a fallen world and we will struggle as believers so we might as well face that fact and realize that trying to take the easy road won’t alleviate that fact.  But if we learn to suffer well it may help us take on a new perspective, like it says in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”   

If you try to always take the easy way you may find yourself trying to climb a smooth mountain and in the long run you will be worse off for it.  Do yourself a favor, seek the whole truth and get set free and you will always be prepared for the next battle or trial that comes your way.  Something to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!