Why Loving God Seems Hard

Let's be honest with ourselves, loving God seems hard sometimes.  You're probably not excited when mom and dad tell you to turn off the TV Friday night, and if that is the case then you are most likely even more upset when mom and dad bug you to get closer to Jesus and wake up early in the morning to spend time with Him.  However, these two examples are just a few of the things in Christianity that we just don't always get excited about.  What's the issue?  Am I just a bad Christian?  Actually, I think you're missing the whole point.

Loving God in and of itself is not impossible. However, loving the things that God wants us to do is hard, when His love is not experienced in first person.

1) Stop Sweeping With the Lights Out

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost.  Luke 15:8-9

In this parable, there is a relationship between the coin and those that are in the church.  This coin (us) is lost in the church and in order for it to be found, a lamp must be lit and then there is a sweeping that takes place.  After this happens, then the coin is found.  

However, do you realize that we often switch the order of this parable.  Though we are the lost coin, we try to clean the house out without using a lamp.  Psalms 119:105 writes that this lamp is the word of God, so if you put it together this is what's happening very often.  In order to be found we need to use the lamp (word of God) to light the house, then do the sweeping (cleaning up of our lives.)  However, we often sweep (attempt to clean up our lives) without lighting a candle (investing in God and his word) and thus you get a dark house that is still a mess.  

So if you ask yourself, why is it so hard to love God, you have to really see if you are loving God, or the things He calls you to do.  Because a love for Him precedes a life dedicated to Him.  Stop sweeping the house with lights out, turn the light on, and then He can sweep your life.  

2) Stop Fighting His Love

The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus - Steps to Christ

Yo, that quote is fire!  So what it's basically saying is that in the end of the day, the only way not to be drawn to Jesus is to intentionally resist His love.  If you don't resist, you will be drawn to Him!  You ask why?  Because honestly how can you resist a God that left heaven for you to take on a world that beat Him, spit upon Him, and nailed Him to a cross.  A true understanding of the life of Christ and the sacrifice in it brings the hardest criminal to their knees, if they stop resisting!  Now get this, it can do the same to you and I.  You just have to ask the question, will I resist His love today?

Story time with Josh:

Way back in the day before the civil war, there was a slave who was being sold in a market.  However, this was not an ordinary slave.  As the buyers looked at this slave, they realized his strength and his size, and all were eager to buy him.  Obviously when you are being sold as a slave, you would be upset which was how this man felt.  So he said the nastiest of words and claimed that he will not work for anyone.  But still the buyers cast their bid and finally a man bid so high that everyone dropped their interests right away.  So this buyer brought this slave home, and the whole way down the slave cursed and proclaimed that He will not work a day in his life.  But out of the blue, this buyer turned around and told the slave that he bought him to set him free.  Dumbfounded, the slave did not believe what he heard.  But once again the man repeated that he bought him to set him free.  The slave immediately ran to the man and said that he will serve him for the rest of his life.

Realize that this relationship is the same with Christ and us.  We are slaves to sin, but He bought us to set us free.  When you realize that love, you'll find yourself running to Him to serve Him for the rest of your life.