It was never supposed to be easy
If I reminded of one thing in this week before Easter, this Holy Week, it’s this: it was never supposed to be easy. Life isn’t easy and being a youth leader isn’t easy and that’s how it is supposed to be.Too often we hear that if you just give your heart to Jesus, everything will be just fine. Or that if you just pray hard enough or believe good enough, everything good will come your way. It’s a lie.Jesus told His disciples that whoever wanted to follow Him, had to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34). He never promised us a rose garden, as a matter of fact He promised us tribulations, hate, betrayal, and even death (Matthew 24:9,10).It was never supposed to be easy.To deny yourself, that means wanting what God wants for you. It means focusing on His will for your life, not your own plans or wants. It means trusting God to know what’s best for you. And God may feel that a cross is best for you, that that will bring the most honor to His name. Following Jesus, that means obeying no matter what comes your way.There will be times in our lives when God blesses us beyond our imagination, because He is a good God who loves us more than we can ever comprehend. But there will also be seasons when he allows hardships to come our way, trials and tough times.
Look at what the apostle Paul faced, one of the greatest missionaries ever (if not the greatest). He loved God, he served him with everything he had and still he faced stoning, whippings, almost drowning, imprisonment and ultimately death. Yet He kept serving God and praising Him till the day he died.It was never supposed to be easy.God doesn’t want you to have a perfect, easy life. He wants you to become like His Son, every day a little bit more. And we humans, we don’t grow our character in the good times. We grow in the hard times, in the spiritual fights surrounding our ministry, in the battles we sometimes face in our private life. That’s when our roots grow deeper, when our eyes lift to heaven and when we learn to trust.Jesus showed us how to handle these times because His life wasn’t perfect and easy either to put it mildly. He showed us how to trust God, how to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us. He showed us to obey, even to the point of death. And He wants to help us do the same.Your life, your youth ministry, it was never supposed to be easy. There will be easy times of great blessings, but there will also be battles and hardships. The question is: how will you handle these? Will you fix your eyes on Jesus and trust in the God who promised that He will use all things for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28)?[Image: arbeer.de via Compfight cc]