I'm just here to talk about God

We have been blessed with a new month and a new chance to be intentional. Let’s make sure we are blessing the Lord by drawing closer to Him through prayer, Bible reading, and meditation, by honoring our bodies through nutrition and movement, and by honoring our world through prayer, close relationships, by being kind to those around us, and by taking care of the environment. We have been blessed with new life to honor God, so let us honor Him! In short, there is no trying, only doing. So let us be doers!

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

One thing I love about the Word is that the Lord does not lie to us. Yes, there is absolutely some flowery language found throughout the Word, but the Bible is still clear that there will indeed be trials, temptations, and tribulations. God is on our side and He lets us know that no weapon formed against us will prosper, but there is no lie that there are no weapons formed. 

Let's analyze the verse above. First, it recalls the previous chapter (Hebrews 11) by reminding us that we are surrounded by "so great a cloud of witnesses." Chapter 11 talks about the great heroes of faith; Abraham, Moses, the Israelites, Rahab. 

Then we are called to action, to "lay aside every weight and sin." 

As we grow and move through life, we often change not only our point of views, but even our ways of thinking. Often it feels like a struggle to carry everything we are holding on to; our past and our drama and our fears and our stories and our histories and our pride and our shames and so on. That's because it is a struggle. We do not have to constantly hold on to every single thing - but it can be paralyzing trying to let go of things, especially if we keep them around for "comfort." We truly can find ourselves clinging to things that do not serve us. So we need to explore our inner souls through prayer and let those things go. 

We can cling to sin the same way - finding comfort in our own vices and desires. And sin also "clings" to us; it is never too far from us if we are looking to find it. 

Finally, after putting aside every weight and sin, we are called to run with endurance the race that is set before us. Even here, the instructions are clear: 

1. "Run with endurance" - we have to be prepared to run the race so we need to train and feed ourselves accordingly (with the Word and time with the Lord). 

2. "The race that is set before us" - We each have our own race to run. I can't run your race and you cannot run mine, and looking at someone else's run is a good way to stumble in your own race. 

3. "Looking to Jesus" - Here is our final instruction on how we should be running this race, and it is with Jesus in our focus. And here the verse reminds us why our focus should be on Him. As He is "the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 

So what am I supposed to do? How do I follow this verse's instructions? 

First off, pray and examine your heart. Continue letting God guide you as you walk through this life and it will be Him who helps you shed those weights and be free from sin. It's not an easy race, it's not a simple life - it requires endurance and grit but it is our race, that is set before us. 

I leave you with this quote: “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” -C. JoyBell 

Matthew 6:25-34:  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

We live in an anxious world, and with good reason. Each and every single day we hear horror stories about the violence and gore that exist, or we experience first-hand the selfishness and rage of those around us. On top of all that, there are rising costs for absolutely everything and less and less compassion. It can often feel like a cold, dark world where all we have is ourselves. 

Thankfully, that is not the full truth. Yes, there is still violence and selfishness and all of the other human emotions and experiences, but we also have God and His unfailing love. We don't have to look to the world, we have to look to our Lord. 

Does this mean that we should be uninformed on current events or completely resigned to live with no purpose, no job, nothing? NO! Not at all. The message is not to simply relax and hope that everything works out okay in the end, the message is that IF we honor the Lord and follow Him, HE will be the one to ensure that things work out. If we are following God's plan for our lives, then part of that plan is His (our) victory! That plan includes us being successful in our respective fields, and having enough to take care of ourselves AND others through charity and donations, it does not include laziness and the sin of sloth. 

It would be so wonderful if being born again meant that we would not have any worries ever, but the Bible is very clear to not lead us into this delusion. 

Isaiah 54:17a reads: "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn." 

We often glean what we actually want to read, so often we mis-read this verse as not having any issues or troubles in the future with God on our side. But the truth is that there will unfortunately be weapons that are formed specifically against you, and there will be tongues that rise up against us and the Lord. Here is the protection that the Lord offers us; He will not let those weapons prosper. 

We can look to the story of Esther as a perfect example of God's grace over us. In the story, Esther's cousin, Mordecai, offends the king's advisor, Haman. Haman grows so upset over these "offenses" that at his wife's suggestion, he builds a gallows to hang Mordecai. Long story short, Haman ended up building the very gallows that would be used to hang himself, while Mordecai is rewarded by the King. Mordecai is actually given a great reward, after Haman suggests it all (thinking it was going to be a reward for himself). 

This is a theme we see throughout the Bible - our lives are not magically easier once we are born-again, but we have a major ally on our side who is working in the background to ensure HIS plan comes to fruition. Our part of that plan is to do the work - grow closer to God, study His Word, and share the gospel. Thank God for His divine protection and intervention in our lives; especially everything that we don't know. 

Proverbs 13: 1-4

A wise son hears his father's instruction,     but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good,     but the desire of the treacherous is for violence. Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;     he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,     while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

There is no trick to motivation or to cracking the code for dedication - you just have to do it. Some days, we're on top of the world and feeling up for all thing! On those days, we happily eat healthy and go to the gym and drink our water. But that's not everyday. Some days we just don't "feel" like it, but there's an easy solution. Do it anyway. 

It's not easy to keep going when we're tired, when we're suffering, when we're broken, when we're ready to give up. But as someone said: "If you're in hell; keep going! Why would you stay in hell?"

It may not be the prettiest quote, but one of my favorites says: "It's easy, there's a trick to it - you do it or you die." 

We have a very simple choice each day - to draw closer to the Lord by being obedient to Him and His Word OR to lean on our own understanding and do what our flesh wants to do.  And by extension, we are indeed choosing between life and death. 

I don't have to tell you what you have to do, you already know it - to draw nearer to God, take care of your temple (body), and be a disciple. But those three things include a multitude within them. What does it mean to draw nearer to God? It means spending time with Him, reading our Bibles, going to church, Bible Study, etc. But it may also mean removing distractions that keep us from dedicating time to Him. And what about taking care of our temple? This is basic diet and exercise, yes, but what about sleep? What about our environment? What about ensuring we are regularly visiting our doctor? 

We don't have to get into each and every individual decision, but each and every single day you will have to make choices. You can continue on autopilot, doing what you want to do and wondering why your life is not where you want it to be. Or you can start saying YES to the Lord, and make your decisions according to His guidance. It certainly won't be easy and you will grow definitely weary. But like I said "It's easy, there's a trick to it - you do it or you die." 

Psalm 139: 7 - 12:

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?     Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;     if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,     if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me,     your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me     and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;     the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

As humans, we mess up. A lot. The problem is that after we mess up, we also try to "fix" things. And by "fix" we often really mean "hide." When we mess up, we don't actually want to do the necessary work to make amends and corrections - instead we usually are trying only to protect ourselves. 

And when it comes to God, we act up even more! We try to be like Cain & hide ours sins from God but He can see all things. There is nothing that is hidden from the Lord, nothing that is in the dark for Him. We try to hide because we think that there is something that we can do to lose our acceptance by God – so we hide. But He knows our sin before we even think to try to sin.

Romans 8:35-39 reminds us how nothing can separate us from the love of God.

It states: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Again, the Lord knows us and we cannot do anything that will surprise Him or cause Him to love us any less. Instead of trying to run and hide, we should be running TO Him. 

Romans 12:2: 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 John 1:9: 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

A curious thing happens when we become believers. Because our eyes have been opened to the truth and to sin, we start to notice it everywhere. Moreover, we often find that we ourselves are the worst offenders! And it becomes an internal struggle and debate, often making us think that there must be something wrong with us that we cannot "stick" to our salvation. We think; I'm saved now, so why am I still struggling with sin? 

That is the great irony - it is our salvation that leads us to walk into the light and to notice all the things that are not of God. It can be overwhelming, and even paralyzing, to realize just how often we are sinning or not honoring God. It can make us feel that we are simply not good enough, or that there must be something that we are doing wrong. The truth is, our eyes are finally OPEN. When you can finally see it all, you can actually see it all. 

So instead of feeling down or undeserving because you noticed that you sinned, be proud that you caught yourself! We cannot change anything that we do not observe, so this is a necessary step. Bad news? You will never be perfect. The good news? You don't have to be! 

Now, I want to clarify that I am not saying that it is acceptable to sin or to not even try to improve. NOT AT ALL! What I am instead trying to instill is that we cannot let ourselves feel paralyzing guilt every time we fall short. We will make mistakes, we will sin, we will be human - it is our salvation that reminds us that we do not have to conform to the world just because it is hard to do Godly things. As Romans 12:2 reminds us, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. And each and every single day we must strive to do and be better, through Christ. Yes, this is very hard and challenging, but we never have to walk alone. 

And if we do sin? Thank GOD we have a gracious and merciful heavenly Father who will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Psalms 139:13-16 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. What a beautiful thing it is to know that we are loved beyond love.

These verses provide some beautiful imagery, highlighting how our very existence on this earth is the culmination of the Lord weaving together every miracle that led to our births. It is a reminder of how deeply the Lord knows and loves us – and that each and every thing that occurs in our life is a part of His divine plan for our good. And perhaps more importantly, these verses should serve as a reminder that we are perfect exactly as we are.

Now, I am not saying that we should not strive to be better; quite the opposite actually! We should be striving each and every single day to be better versions of ourselves in the Lord, but the key words here are “of ourselves.” We are made special and unique for a reason! And the mix of way we were raised, when we were raised, and our experiences, and our cultures, and our everything is what makes us the versions of ourselves that exist today. But you cannot force yourself to be a different person. You cannot hate yourself into a version of yourself that you will love. You can grow and learn and gain wisdom and experience, but remember to be YOU. The you that was fearfully and wonderfully made.

Often, things we dislike about ourselves are actually our best features. You may think you are too loud and talkative – but to others you are a bright, friendly warmth in a cloudy, stormy day. Alternatively, you may chastise yourself for being too quiet and reserved, while those who know you may adore the deep, thoughtful consideration you provide to everything. Trust that the God that created the heavens and the earth, and everything within them, who also created you, knows what He was doing. Grow? YES! But never lose sight of yourself – of the you that was knit in your mother’s womb, of the you that is loved beyond love.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:1-5

What does it mean to bless the Lord? It means to praise Him, to exalt Him, and to worship Him. But this still begs the question - what does it mean for us to "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name"? This means that we are to live the entirety of our lives in submission to the Lord, that we should be seeking to honor Him and do His will in all that we do at all times. This is simple but increasingly difficult as it means that we have to reexamine how we live our lives even in the small details. 

When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing that you do? Do you check your phone for emails or social media? Do you reach for a morning coffee? Or do you thank the Lord for another day of life? Are you studying the Bible daily to ensure you are filled with the Word of God or are you filling yourself with worldly information? Do you move and stretch your temple daily to ensure it lasts for decades, or are you simply living for the day to day? 

Reminding ourselves to "Bless the Lord" is a way that we can filter our lives to be not only better, but more blessed. It is not about changing everything, but it is a way of changing how we view everything. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. -Ephesians 5:6-10

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:2

This week, the theme that kept emerging over and over again has been discernment. To discern is "to perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect; see, recognize, or apprehend" or "to distinguish mentally; recognize as distinct or different; discriminate."  In this age, it is especially necessary to have that discernment; to view everything through the lens of our salvation. 

The Bible is very clear, we should be taking the time to educate ourselves fully, to always pursue knowledge, and most importantly to have a deep and personal relationship with the our Lord and Savior. We need to be spending time with Him daily and studying His Word, so that when we are presented information we can review it and discern what is true and what is good. 

The message is simple, but also challenging - it calls for us to take an honest stock of everything around us and hold it in judgment of the Word. Let us take on this honorable challenge with grace and thanksgiving. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4"Faith untested cannot be trusted." 

I hated this phrase when I first heard it from my sister. We were going through a VERY long trial of faith as my mother was hospitalized and it was not something I was interested in hearing. But it is the (unfortunate/fortunate?) truth. It's easy to say that we have faith and say that we trust in God. It is a lot different to actually believe, and to trust, especially when we are going through trials and tribulations that are lasting days, months, even years!  It is during these uniquely trying times that we need to cling to our faith and to our Lord. 

And it is this testing of our faith that refines us, that makes us grow, that makes us complete. We need to be tested in order to grow - so as the verse says, "count it all joy." When you are going through the trials and the tests, be grateful and keep your faith. It's cliche, but it's true. You just have to go through it. Faith untested cannot be trusted. 

The good news? There is joy even in the trials and tribulations, and the better news is that you will go THROUGH this and come out the other side with so much more to celebrate! 

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." -Colossians 3:12-14

Today I am thinking a lot about common courtesy, and how challenging it can be to keep being courteous in an increasingly discourteous world. It is not easy to maintain our compassion, our kindness, our humility, our gentleness, and our patience, especially when it seems that everyone around us is not bound by these same convictions. But again I must remind us that our peace and our joy should be coming from the Lord, not from our interactions with others. If we lose our peace after one conversation, then our peace is not from the Lord; it is from our conversations and from others. Again, this is a LOT easier said than done and the Lord understands this, encouraging us to "bear with each other" and to "forgive one another." 

It is not about being perfect, because perfection is not something that we can achieve, but it IS about being consistent. Consistently clothing ourselves, as the Word says. And while it is not easy to stay vigilant and to keep our virtues, it is very easy to slip into our carnal flesh. It is not easy to be compassionate, but it can feel almost too easy to be inconsiderate. It is a challenge to maintain our kindness, but we can be rude on demand. It is unfortunately too easy to act out in our human nature. So the challenge this week is to choose to be compassionate, to be kind, to be humble, to be gentle, to be patient. 

Read the verses again (and again) and remember, your clothing is also a shield. When people are not compassionate to you, you can keep your compassion because you are dressed it in. When others are not gentle, you can keep your gentleness about you. Let us truly be a living example of what a Christian walk looks like - not a a cake walk, but a deliberate march in the right direction. 

I've been thinking a lot about loss and grief lately. Unfortunately, I know too well the devastating (and sometimes crippling) grief that loss can bring, and often when we think we are "okay" we are hit worse. 

When we lost our older brother (my parents' first born), my mother shared with me that she found the most comfort in the phrase "the joy of the Lord is my strength", found in Nehemiah 8: 10: 

10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

For a little context, the people were weeping softly as they were listening to the Book of Law - perhaps themselves overcome with emotions as they were adjusting to a new way of life. This verse is often misconstrued, we hear the word "joy" and assume that we will have joy; but the verse does not say this. It says the joy of the Lord is my STRENGTH. On those days when it seems like there is absolutely nothing and no one that can lift your spirits, remember that that's kind of true - nothing but God will be able to lift your spirits. It is our faith that brings us the strength to go on, even when everything around us is crumbling. And remember, our meditation with the Lord is more than prayer, Bible studying, and listening to messages - it can be a a time of crying, of silence, of stillness, of singing, of joy, of laughter, of whatever. It is our time and conversation with our Lord who loves us so deeply. 

Here are a few more verses that may provide some comfort: Psalms 34:18 "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 73:26: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalms 147:3: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Matthew 5: 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Matthew 11: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-6 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”

May some of these verses be a comfort to you. 

Matthew 20: 1-16

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.  “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’  7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

We often quote verse 16: So the last will be first, and the first will be last. But have we truly captured the meaning? There is no reward in heaven for being first - and the one who gets saved at the very last possible moment is just as saved as the one who was born into the religion. This goes against what our human (carnal) brains can think of - we think we should get a bigger reward in heaven for our long suffering and tenacity, and that we should get more than those who deserve less. While agreeing that we should all love one another, we often secretly have our own tally to keep score and have crowned some better and some worse. 

But (thankfully), that is not how God's love for us works; we don't have to do anything to gain salvation and we can't do anything to earn it. And it is this beautiful concept that we seem to struggle with most - that we are given something we did not earn that can be freely given to another without diminishing what we have. It is this submission and belief that forms the foundation of our faith. We are saved because of our faith and our faith makes us saved. We don't have to understand it, we just need to embrace it. Thankfully, favor isn't fair.

Matthew 6:1-8

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

Matthew 6 may best be known for the verses that follow (The Lord's prayer is found starting in verse 9), but it is the first 8 verses that set the groundwork for how our prayer lives should truly go. It is not about the presentation of our prayer and our giving, but about the actual content and our intentions. We should be reaching out to the poor because it was put on our hearts, NOT as a show for others to see. Our prayer time is our private time with the Lord; it is for us to communicate our innermost feelings and struggles with our father. God wants us to have this special time with Him - an honest time, not a presentation of our latest vocabulary acquisitions. Pretty words alone are not enough, it is about our hearts. 

On the opposite end, it is not about hiding our actions and our faith and our prayers, but instead about making sure that we are doing all of these things for God, not for our own recognition and validation. Time and time again, the Lord strips away all of the extra fluff - the over the top presentations, the bloated words, the fanfare - all to reach the very nature of the matter; our hearts. It is critical that we guard our hearts and protect ourselves fully. 

So often we want to portray the best and greatest versions of ourselves, but God is asking for our true selves. We do not have to hide and pretend with Him. Bring God your truth, no matter how messy, and watch Him turn it into your greatest blessing. 

2 Peter 1:3-11:

3. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.5. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6. and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7. and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 10. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11. and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Life is HARD, and being a believer doesn't make it any easier. Many times, it feels harder. Just like everyone else, we deal with temptation and sin, and just like everyone else, we have to make a choice. 

And that is the real challenge we face, that it is not one single decision to follow Jesus, but it is constantly choosing to follow Him and honoring Him in all that we do. Following our human (sinful) nature and desires is easy, but choosing the path less traveled feels more like an actual challenge and work. It can get tiring and frustrating. But one "bad" decision can snowball into another faster than you think. This is expressly evident in how quickly we can turn back to our bad habits, especially when under stress. But as the verses say, God has given us everything we need and through Him we can escape the evil corruption of the world - but again, that has to be a choice we make each and every single day, over and over and over again.