A relationship with Jesus Christ is not simply a fairytale where everything works out perfectly. There are costs associated with this journey; there will be painful instances, times of doubt, and seemingly unbearable moments. Nevertheless though, when it comes down to it, we have a loving God on our side whose biggest desire is to help us through these rough times in our life. He desires a relationship with us. He actually desires to hear about our day and to listen to our frustrations. Go ahead and tell him about what goes on in your day, what big decisions you need to make, and anything else that goes on in your life! After all, it is a relationship right? If we treat our salvation simply as “fire insurance” or a “free ticket out of Hell” then we are missing out on the joy of Discipleship and a wonderful relationship with our Creator. Most likely it will not be fun when we encounter trials throughout this journey. Yet, how you deal with these hard times is entirely up to you. Will it be with bitterness, doubt, and anger, or acceptance, faith and joy?
My hope is that it’s the latter three and not the former. I pray that you enter into this adventure of Discipleship through a relationship with Christ. It’s well worth the ups and downs you will face throughout your journey. Just be willing to seek Him (Christ) hard and with everything you have. If you’re willing to do that, then He is waiting to provide you with everything you need to get though this life. A grand adventure is before you, so what are you waiting for?
Good post, and agree with everything you say. Nice looking blog too, have you just started it? If so, keep going, I’ll subscribe to support you.
Thank you Steve, and yes I have just started. Thank you for the support, I appreciate it.
what if i argued that all of the “good” things you say we gain from belief in christ, such as eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and guidance of the holy spirit are given freely to you, and you don’t have to believe in christ to gain these things? what’s the point in believing in him then if it will bring us trouble?
Interesting argument. I think that if there is no requirement whatsoever to receive these things, we are hinting at universalism. These three things, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, are given to us freely only through belief in Christ and the work done on the Cross. In response to your last question, Jesus explains to His apostles in John 15:18-25 that the world will hate His followers because of Him. Romans 12:2 talks about not conforming to the world and also about how testing will allow us to discern the will of God. The world, and its pleasures are not from God and are passing away (1 John 2:15-17).
what about Romans 5:15, that says “but, not as the offence so also is the free gift; for if by the offence of the one the many did die, much more did the grace of God, and the free gift in grace of the one man Jesus Christ, abound to the many;” And by this you can argue that no one chose the death and if the gift entered the world in the same way as the death then by that logic then the gift is on all just as the death was— this is one of many verses i coulkd bring up… but to bring up the countless verses that support this idea, would take far to long to say in a comment… so therefore the life that God gives is over all just as the death was… if this isn’t sufficient support you know how to contact me so i can better show you…
[…] in Christ is not synonymous with happiness though. I would argue that being a Christian is actually harder than not . However, the reward of following Christ, the blessing He gives of Himself, His peace, and the […]