“Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard and your life will become easy.” — Les Brown
How true is that statement? If we consider it in the context of the Christian life, I’d give it a thumbs up.
What is it to “do what is easy”? It is to just go with the flow of the world, the flesh, and the devil. All we have to do to go down stream in a river is pull in the oars in. Easy enough. But what’s the end game? Jesus put it this way, “I tell you the truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” And sin is a cruel taskmaster the end of which is disintegration of our inner life and death. Yes, do what is easy and your life will indeed be hard — very hard.
But what about “do what is hard and your life will become easy”? Let’s face it. The hardest decision we make in a God-seeking life is that of constantly having to face off with something we want to do that we know is questionable and yet saying “no” to it. But if we keep at that hard thing and never give up no matter how many times we fail, the truth is that we will discover Jesus helping us every step of the way. And it is living life with him that increasingly displaces our awareness of the up hill climb we’re on with a growing sensitivity to his presence and friendship. It’s kind of like working on a very difficult project, but doing so with a good friend. By virtue of that friendship doesn’t the project in a sense become easy?
