I’m going to say something that might seem challenging and unconventional:
Being a faithful Christian is not actually that hard.
It’s just not. Jesus clearly acknowledged this: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. “
Speaking from personal experience, I can confirm that choosing to live a life based on His teachings actually makes life easier, not more challenging.
I’m convinced that instead of being more restricted by the Christian principles, we are actually more free.
A major theme I see in Jesus’s teachings (as well as much of the Bible, including Proverbs) that I feel doesn’t get much attention is that this all is largely rooted in emotional intelligence:
The ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and overcome conflict.
Being emotionally intelligent leads to being more disciplined in regards to the 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth) and from there, we are naturally more inclined to love our neighbors as ourselves; which is connected to loving God.
This is an epiphany that has became strangely obvious to me over the past year. Each morning, I start the day by taking a 3 mile walk. During this time, I pray. I start off with the most famous prayer; the one Jesus taught his disciples:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Naturally, when you pray this, you can’t help but visualize examples of how this personally applies to you. The most challenging part of this prayer for me is “lead us not into temptation”…
This is my theory: That you can actually get to a point in your life where there just aren’t that many temptations surrounding you anymore, if you’re living your life in accordance to the ways Jesus taught us to live.
When I think of the word “temptation”, I immediately associate it with “sin”. When I think of the word “sin”, I associate it with “an act that causes a separation between you and God, as well as others”.
So for me, as a sincerely happily married 43 year-old man, what temptations am I supposedly facing?
Let’s start with the 10 Commandments:
- I am the LORD your God; you shall not have strange gods before me. “No problem. One God is enough for me. And I know this also implies not making anything else a god; like my job, my family, my hobbies, etc.”
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. “That’s easy. I don’t even curse anyway. Nor do I use God’s name out of context. It just seems silly.”
- Remember to keep holy the LORD’s Day. “Definitely. I am at church every Sunday morning, then I intentionally take it easy the rest of the day.”
- Honor your father and mother. “Of course! I love parents!”
- You shall not kill. “Why would I want to murder anyone? I’ve never even been in a fight my entire life.”
- You shall not commit adultery. “What?! Remember, I am sincerely happily married. I don’t desire nor think about other women. I love my wife!”
- You shall not steal. “If I am praying for God to give me my daily bread, why would I need to steal someone else’s?”
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “What do I have to hide? Why would I need to lie?”
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. “Didn’t we already do this one? Just like with only having one God, I’m good with just one woman.”
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. “I am happy for my neighbors. Good for them. I celebrate their success. I don’t envy it.”
Still with me? Can you agree that following the 10 Commandment is simply just basic?
What about Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount? “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Right. Exactly. Why wouldn’t we want to see our enemies redeemed as opposed to revenged?
But also, who are my enemies? I’m not aware that I have any. Why is that?
Now let’s look to when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was.
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'”
Love my others as much as I love myself? I have said for years that the meaning of life is found in serving others. I am energized by connecting with other people. One of my favorite things to do is to mentor others and empower them.
And I don’t think I am better than other people either. I am overly aware I am not perfect. At any moment, I could choose to make self-destructive decisions if I was tempted to do so. It’s just that I tend to not be tempted in the first place, because “sin” just doesn’t seem interesting or appealing to me at this point in my life.
My life is more enjoyable because it is proactively directed towards pleasing God, which is based on loving other people as much as myself.
I immediately recognize and believe that I fall short of the glory of God simply by being born into this world with a sinful nature. I openly accept the gift of Jesus’s salvation for being the only perfect one.
Isn’t the whole goal of being Christian to be like Jesus? I feel like there is a paradox here:
If a person claims to be a Christian, yet continually chooses actions that go against the teachings of Christ, that person is seen as a hypocrite; to be despised.
But if a person claims to be a Christian and chooses to live faithfully in accordance of the teachings of Christ, and then claims that they just aren’t intrigued by the temptations the world has to offer, does that imply the person’s actual temptation or sin of choice is pride?
I don’t buy into that.
Instead, I believe Jesus wants us to mature in our faith to the point where temptations become quite a rare thing; to the point where we find joy in following His teachings and in serving others; all while not believing that we ourselves are greater than others and while still fully recognizing God is God and we are not.
I just don’t see what is so hard about that. Change my mind.
