Easy? By Newman Hall Revelation
chapter 21, verse 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I
will be his God, and he will be my son. To be a true Christian
is not so easy a thing as some suppose. It is not merely true
beliefs, an evangelical creed, attending a scriptural church,
a comfortable sermon once or twice a week. It is not this
which constitutes genuine Christianity. You who think that religion is
so very easy a thing, be apprehensive lest, when too late, you find
that you have experienced nothing of saving religion. Easy? For a depraved being to trample
upon his lusts? for a proud being to lie prostrate
with humility and self-reproach, for those who are slow of heart
to believe, for the educated man to receive the gospel as
a little child, easy to crucify the flesh, to deny ungodliness,
to cut off a right hand and to pluck out a right eye, Easy? To be in the world, and yet not
of the world? To come out from it, not by the
seclusion of the cloister, but by holiness of life? To be diligent
in its duties, yet not absorbed by them? To appreciate its innocent
delights, and yet not ensnared by them? To behold its attractions,
and yet rise superior to them? To live surrounded by objects
which appeal to the sight and yet to endure as seeing what
is invisible? Easy? To pray and see no answer
to prayer and still pray on? To fight this battle and find
new foes ever rising up and still to fight on? To be harassed with
doubts and fears and yet walk on in darkness, staying ourselves
upon God? Easy? To be preparing for a world
we have never visited, in opposition to so much that is captivating
in a world where we have always dwelt, whose beauties we have
seen, whose music we have heard, and whose pleasures we have experienced. Easy? To resist that subtle foe
who has cast down so many of the wise and the mighty, Easy? When Jesus says it is a narrow
gate, and that if we would enter, we must strive, bidding us to
take up our cross daily, deny ourselves, and follow him. Ah,
it is no soft flowery meadow, along which we may languidly
stroll, but a rough, craggy cliff that we must climb. It is no
smooth, placid stream, along which we may dreamily float,
but a tempestuous ocean that we must stem. Make every effort
to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will
try to enter and will not be able to. Luke chapter 13 verse
24.