Easy in, easy out! God is recorded as having decided that the Israelites should not come out to the promised land the easy way in Exodus 13. Why? Because if you get something easily, you also give it up easily whereas something you have fought for is something you want to keep.
We sadly see this often in the church where we are so grateful for people even coming to church that we teach an easy costless gospel that is so easy to accept that when we "face battle" like the seeds that are on rocky ground, we quickly revert to our old way of life.
We have a human way of putting our fears onto other people and say, "if we teach a gospel that is hard, we will not attract anyone to Christ". We think that this is wise but ironically, the churches with the most persecution are those who if not large are strong in what they believe. Jesus never taught an easy gospel, he didn't teach a lovey-dovey, happy-clappy, haughty-taughty message, he taught real sacrifice and in some cases division between us and friends/family as the God of the universe is in opposition to our sinful nature and we resist the change.
We need to remember that Christianity is not a cheap or easy option. If it is, we are not doing it right. It requires commitment, responsibility, humility and will attract opposition. Maybe then we will fight for it and stand our ground when the evil one tempts us.
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