Serving Jesus Christ isn't all that hard. Sure, he told us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow him. Sure he told us to count the cost. Sure he said the world would hate us. Sure he told us that we have to love him so much that all other love looks like hate in comparison. Sure he told us to go to the ends of the world with the purpose of making disciples. Sure he reminded us that he did not even have a place of his own to lay his head and then he told us to be just like him. Certainly sounds hard but that's because we forget one thing: He also told us to live one day at a time.
Our problem is that we are planners and controllers. We invest ourselves in things that belong to this place and not the place to come. We look for consistency. We want everything to stay the same all the time but the only thing that stays a constant is God's love. Everything, and I mean everything, is in a constant state of change. You are not the same person you were yesterday simply because of the things you have seen and experienced since then.
There was a time when change seemed slow and happened over a number of years, or even decades. Now things are sped up so fast that change is the state of being. What is happening in the technology world translates into everything else in our society. What was acceptable yesterday is not acceptable today and vice versa. What was absolutely not acceptable at all in any shape or form is now the newest band wagon that everyone is trying to get on board. This is life.
Yet, God's character does not change. His love is a constant. His promises are written in eternity. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. But he is also constantly taking us through change because we have to change.
He is developing us; maturing us; preparing us for the life to come. He wants us to experience new things; understand deeper perspectives; see with clearer vision. He wants the worship to go deeper, mean more, come from experience. He wants our service to become stronger, more determined, overcoming all things. Bigger, better, stronger are the children of God the more they experience of him. And it is not a hard thing.
Serving Jesus is not hard when we live in the manner he taught us; when we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow his example. Serving is not difficult when we set aside the planning and take it one day at a time. That's the thing, the trick, the secret to making this walk an easy thing: Walk it one day at a time. He told us not to worry about to morrow. He said to live today. We gives us the grace we need for TODAY! He said that we would be like the wind, coming and going at his bidding, because nothing in this world anchors us in place. We are not to get attached to anything except for the one constant in our life, which is God.
It is only difficult when we try to control our tomorrow. It is only difficult when we allow the fear of tomorrow to fill our today. It only becomes difficult when we don'y trust God with our tomorrow and spend today trying to plan for it. Instead, we have to turn our back on tomorrow and say "Today I will serve my God. Today I will be faithful to my task. Today I will worship. Today I will deny myself. Today I will take up my cross. Today I will follow."
Today is all we have and today he has given us strength and grace to serve the Lord.
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