My children sleep peacefully through the night. My husband has a job that pays enough to keep us comfortable and doesn’t keep him away too long from his family. I transition gracefully into being a Stay at Home Mom and eventually find the perfect teaching job that allows a perfect work-family balance . My friends and family are spared all serious disease and distress. My marriage is effortless and takes care of itself. My walk with Jesus comes easily and without any threatening or large-scale adjustments. I can always finish my cup of coffee while it’s still hot.
I confess. I would really love an easy life. My mind frame is often centered around doing things the easiest way and finding an easy solution. After all, work smarter, not harder!
Efficiency is a great thing and some things really should be as simple as possible. I think that meal prepping, choosing Coke or Pepsi, and decorating the house for Christmas can be simple.
But some other things just aren’t.
Deep down, there’s a flesh-driven part of me that thinks I deserve an easy life. Or at least a season of ease. That the trials I’ve endured and the scars I’ve earned entitle me to a slow, easy roll through life. Any time we tell ourselves that we deserve something, a huge red flag should start waving in our minds. Scripture says that the sum total of what I’ve earned in this life is death. (Praise Jesus for paying my debt with the cross!) Only pride and a lack of eternal perspective would allow me to think that I’ve earned an easy life – or that God might reward my faithfulness with an easy life here and now.
In fact, an utterly easy life would ultimately harm me – not help me. The times in my life when my faith has been most deepened and I’ve felt most clearly the presence of God have been the times defined by trials and struggles.
An easy life isn’t a blessing – it’s a death sentence. It lulls our spirits into thinking that we can handle life’s problems on our own. It requires no dependence, no community, and no faith.
I am being reminded in this season of life that the goal of faithfulness and goal of following after God is not a reprieve from troubles. Jesus guarantees us troubles and weariness in this life, but he also guarantees us that his victory over those troubles is already complete.
Ease in this life comes from knowing that eternal peace and escape from weariness are waiting for us in the glorious presence of the Lord. Resting faithfully in that knowledge might be the only rest we get this week, but it’s enough.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”