Life is so hard.
I read that somewhere. I heard it somewhere else. I even said it. On one or two (hundred) occasions.
In the light of walking with Jesus and knowing of the gospel message, I thought maybe God’s original plan in making man, was to avoid life being hard.
Then I read this
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
The blessing with which God blesses humanity intrinsically involves an element of exerting energy. Where? Consider the part of the statement that says fill the earth and subdue it. There is in that an exercise of getting things in control. Putting your stamp on affairs. That is not something that was ever meant to come easily and simply. That would require an element of effort.
Now of course the curse that resulted from man’s sin made the ground tougher to till. The sweat of the brow bit certainly gives an indication of hardship before demise, which was part of the curse and not the blessing. Yet, there is the thought from the beginning of humanity that there was meant to be a level of stewardship, responsibility and effort in the creation reflecting the Creator.
As Jesus exemplified life as it was meant to be, we see Him exerting much energy to the point of exhaustion at times. We see Him pouring out Himself to the point that on more than one occasion angels must support Him.
What all that means to me now is that life is indeed hard. Yet life in Christ gives the hardship a cultivating purpose. We get to return to the blessing with which God blessed us in the beginning. In Christ we return to reflecting the Creator as He intended. In that there is an outcome in the hardship that is not about returning to dust, but reflecting glory, honour and praise to the Father.
Whether that hardship is in labouring to make ends meet financiall. It could be the difficulties in establishing and maintaining healthy relationships as we engage with people with such a complex of issues. It could even be the tough task of living in Christ and dying to self. In that, however hard things, appear, there must be joy in knowing it’s not fruitless, because it is done through God.
Life in Christ is not easy, but it is worthwhile.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 
Chris,
This was such a blessing to me today. THANK YOU. God really used this for my heart just now.
“It could be the difficulties in establishing and maintaining healthy relationships as we engage with people with such a complex of issues”
Thank you for that. I can’t believe how thrown for a loop I get each relationship strain. Why do I think it is gonna be easy every time? I’m such an unrealistic dreamer!!!
I don’t know why I mistakenly think that something is *wrong* when things get messy, difficult, strained. I guess because I’m trying to be the Author and write the story instead of surrendering to the Lord’s will.
The truth is, life IS hard. “But it’s the hard that makes it good” (League of their own).
So now…..what I am processing through is (and what I actually wrote about yesterday and I’m about to post a blog on) is that I’m trying to allow the Lord to redeem my corner of the world I live in…. to show the world what (whatever I do) looks like redeemed, back under His Lordship where it is meant to be….. but what REALLY does that look like? Is it tangible things? don’t think so….. that would be wealth, health, prosperity gospel…… so it’s just a heart thing. It’s a deeper thing. It’s not perfection. It’s not perfect behavior. It’s redemption. It’s Jesus focus. It’s progress. Progress in fruits of the Spirit. Progress in being Spirit lead. I am looking forward to Frank viola’s series he is about to do on “living by the Spirit”.
gotta run. thank you.
P.S. nevermind, not gonna post about it. 🙂 too much I’m still processing.
I think my takeaway is that too many people talk about “God’s favor” to mean success the way the world would describe it. And they also describe it as being dependent on us and doing some specific thing right…..and that it always looks a certain way….
but I’m pretty convinced through my processing this week that we have God’s favor. period. Because GOd’s favor is simply His grace that gave us Jesus. It is the gift of His presence & love no.matter.what. just.because like I tell my kiddos. It is the gift of faith He gave us that will endure to the end. that is not dependent on feelings, circumstances, environment, ‘success’, recognition or ANYTHING other than Jesus.
We have God’s favor when we feel it and when we don’t. When things are easy and when things are hard. When things go the way we want and when they don’t. When we are successful in the world’s eyes and when we aren’t. We have His favor, period.
For what it’s worth, I’d like you to post on it, because you’ve only just troubled the waters of thinking through what it means to redeem your corner of the world and what it means to live in the favour of God.
What you point out helps us to learn what it means to be fruitful as God required from that initial blessing in Genesis 1.
As ever Randi, thanks so much for stopping by. Your thoughts are truly evocative and I love that. Keeps me on my feet and searching for ways to express the lesson your teach.
Thanks again.
I am hoping that someday I will be able to write all that God is showing me. I journal it daily with a pen and paper (have you heard of that?).
My blogs are always sooo LONG haha. Someday, I do believe God will help me write consistently and be concise at the same time 🙂
BUT anyway —- wow I had such a breakthrough this morning about this topic. God’s favor. He spoke directly to me through a mentor/friend/sister of mine and it just broken down so many walls I didn’t even know I had up and just being able to REST in His FAVOR. His grace that is not dependent on me…. I felt so much peace & joy & love & care & just TRUST and He just wiped away my fears I was battling….. and oh He just LOVES Us SOOO much. I couldn’t stop crying. He is so amazing. I can’t wait to hug Him.
I hear He’s looking forward to seeing you too!!
oh and P.S. Thank you so much for that word you used…
evocative.
I had to look it up. What an awesome word. and I laughed when I looked it up because that would describe me, I really think.
God used that in my heart just now too. THANKYOU for using that word and giving it to me.
I know my personality has great weaknesses…. but a strength of my personality — operating from the heart primarily more than mind or will — is that I do FEEL so strongly. and I’m not afraid to express it to others.
He is using you & others around me to help me understand my strengths and who I am and how He can use me.
I am not sure what to DO with knowing this right now…. but I do feel that I speak from the heart and I’m able to show emotion & understand what I’m feeling and why… and communicate that.
THANK YOU!
You are becoming one of my favourite people on here. You are welcome here any time!
God bless you dear Randi
I’m so sorry!! for all these comments lol!! 🙂
but the definition I saw was:evoking or tending to evoke an especially emotional response
but then I saw it can mean so much more than that. what did you mean by evocative??