Skip to main content

the easy way out




I’m an “easy way out” kind of person, are you?  As you know, I don’t like conflict so I don’t ever “go there” if I don’t have to.  I would rather not deal with it – it will go away, just ignore it for a while.  L

Unfortunately, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, a follower of His ways and His Truth, (which I consider myself), you can’t do that.  You can’t take the easy way out all the time.  Being a believer makes me go places I don’t want to go and deal with things I don’t want to deal with.   It helps me tell the truth when it’s easier to lie.  It shows me that the only way is the right way and the right way isn’t always the easiest way.

Besides liking to take the easy way, I want everyone to be happy.  How in the heck can I do that!???!!  I mean, pleasing everyone is a full-time, grueling, pretty-much-impossible job!  Plus it’s not always God-honoring.  And it surely isn’t easy!

To help me with this dilemma, I set me some “rules” to go by.  Check this out:

  • Always tell the truth.  Not your truth, not the truth others want to hear but THE TRUTH. 
  • Don’t go there if you don’t want to “go there”.  In other words, if you know you can’t handle or fix it, don’t even try.  I mean, if there are family issues, or something that is not your business and has nothing to do with you specifically, and you don’t want to (or can’t) solve it, don’t.  Just support and pray and love whoever and whenever.
  • PRAY about it.  Ask others to pray.  If you can’t be specific, just send out an email, “please pray for me”.  Pray for wisdom.  Pray for God’s intervention, pray for whatever but JUST PRAY.
  • And last but not least, deal with it.  If it has to be dealt with, do it.  Go to her house and apologize.  Write that letter.  Forgive.  Give that ultimatum.  Yes, I said, give it.  The easy way out is lazy and it’s usually not right.  Deal with your stuff if it has to be dealt with.  If you have to, tell a friend some specifics so that you have an “encourager” to come along side.  Having someone understanding and/or encouraging you will take LOADS off – believe me, I know.

Unfortunately, the easy way out is not from God most times.  I can just hear The Deceiver saying, “go ahead, it’s the only way.  Don’t deal with it, just ignore it - it’s not worth it . . . . . blah, blah, blah”. 

I’m not making this up, you guys.  I have been there.  I have taken the easy way out and I have dealt with stuff.  Dealing with it has ALWAYS made things better.  Not perfect.  But better.  And the best part is – it’s what God wants. 

Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians (Chapter 4): 

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him, Who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it work.

 
And I love this quote by Oswald Chambers:

 “If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult.  The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in—it stirs us up to overcome.  Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest—our best for His glory?”



You want to be your best and do your work for God’s glory?  So do I.  I want to live the life worthy of my calling (Ephesians 4:1).

No more easy way, Lord, no more – be my strength.  You are my strength, oh God.   Help me to see Your Way and not just the easy way.  And may all of this be for Your glory.  And all God’s people said, AMEN!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May my heart see . . . a blog? What?

My sister suggested years ago for me to start a blog.   “A what?”, I said.   Well, thank you, Cindy, for your suggestion – I think I’m gonna love this !   And I hope you do too.   I want to share what my heart has “seen” and is learning through God’s Word and I want to hear from you too.   The first time I EVER went to Bible study was when my “baby” was in an infant seat.   I remember it vividly.   (He’s 25 now BTW)    My step-mom invited me; she was the leader.   I don’t know if I would have went to a study where I didn’t know A SOUL – maybe.   Anyway, I have been going to a weekly study since then regularly and LOVE IT, absolutely love it! When scripture says “ open the eyes of my heart, Lord” – what do you think that means?   Hearts don’t have eyes, I mean literally they don’t.   My step-mom used to say, “I know it in here (pointing to her brain) but I now know it in HERE (pointing to her heart).   There’s a differ...
5 comments
Read more

ctrl-Z

Happy New Year!   It’s a new year, a new beginning – the old is gone, the new has come!   YIPEE!   Not that 2012 was so awful – but it’s good to start afresh, don’t you think?   Get rid of some old “bad” habits, put on some new “good” ones.   My husband and I have promised each other we are not going to be “crabby” with each other anymore.   I am horrible!   We will try and talk nicely to each other - that alone will be a miraculous feat!! Sometimes, I just want to take back immediately what I just said – ever want to do that?   At my office, my new cubby partner taught me a wonderful keystroke last year that I told her has “spiritual” meaning.   Seriously! ctrl-Z.   Ever use it?   It un-do’s.   Yep – whatever you type wrong or don’t mean to do – it undoes it.   Ingenuous!   I use it all the time now.    (I know – I’m slow!) What on earth could be the spiritual meaning of ctrl-Z?   Hmmm...
3 comments
Read more

REAL expectations?

Oh to be truly thankful for what I have and to have REAL expectations in life.   I mean, IF I am truly thankful for all that is given me (no matter what) – and to KNOW what is expected – doesn’t that sound peace-ful (full of peace) – wouldn’t that be a “slice of heaven” so to speak? I have a sweet granddaughter (Adalay) who is 10 months old, breast-fed and still not sleeping through the night.   She wakes up and needs comfort.   She’s hungry.   That’s reality.   To expect that she be comforted WITHOUT her mother – is that a REAL expectation?   Probably not.   I did have her for the night a couple weeks ago and we “made do” although we were up quite a bit (we took a delicious 4 hour nap later J ). Anyway, the REALity of it is that Adalay needs comforting in the middle of the night, albeit, with or without milk.   A lactation specialist has told my daughter-in-love that THAT is NORMAL – a REAL expectation for babies, even at 10 months old.   If...
1 comment
Read more