An Encouraging Word: I wish life was easier
I wish life was easier.
I wish war did not exist. I wish parents did not have to say goodbye to their children as they left to defend their country. I wish service personnel did not need to knock on some of those parents’ doors to deliver devastating news. I am thankful for those who returned home alive. But I wish some of them did not have to return broken — physically or emotionally.
I wish families were healthy. I wish what we used to call a dysfunctional home was not becoming the norm. I wish parents would make a commitment — first to each other, then to their children. I wish people would not be amazed when marriage vows are kept, especially the part “Until death do we part.”
I wish children could grow up without fear. I wish school shootings, and mass shootings in general, did not exist. In spite of my growing up during the Cold War and seeing nuclear Bomb Shelter signs in the school buildings, our schools and our neighborhoods were considered safe places.
I wish the rancor and anger exhibited by those with opposing political views would not be so threatening and divisive. I wish social media was not such a hotbed of hatred. I wish news media outlets on both sides would not throw more logs on that fire. I wish we were not so far away from Abraham Lincoln’s desire “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
I wish, I wish, I wish. Life was so much easier for previous generations, right? Wrong. Throughout human history, wars have devastated people and whole countries. Families have experienced irreparable harm due to selfishness, anger, and the lack of love. Dysfunction breeds dysfunction. As much as parents tried to shelter their kids from fear, the tension was always lurking nearby. And the results of opposing political views have always divided people, often to the point of inciting war. The words of Lincoln I quoted earlier are from his Gettysburg Address, spoken at the dedication of a military cemetery on the battlefield itself. With more than 7,000 killed and 51,000 casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War.
I wish life was easier. But it’s not. Jesus knew that. He said even though he came to bring peace, there would still be division. And for some people, the things Jesus taught are divisive themselves. People pursuing the world’s solutions will often reject what Jesus expects of His followers: Loving their enemies. Praying for those who persecute them. Understanding that the head of the line is actually at the back. Only the lost will be found. Even the most insignificant person in the world’s eyes matters infinitely to God.
Collin Hansen wrote, “In order to find your life, you must lose it for the sake of Jesus … I’ve never found that life gets easier. Or better. But I have found that God is with me. That Jesus walks with me through the valley of the shadow of death. That he will leave the 99 in order to find me when I call out to him. That he promises me nothing in this world except that the God of the universe sees and knows and loves me. And that in the next world I will see him face to face, when he lifts the burden of my sin and the evil of this fallen world.”
Life is unfair. Jesus declared in John 16 that “in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Without Christ I would be miserable. But I found His Amazing Grace. It saved a wretch like me. And it can save you too.
Tom Cash is senior minister at the First Church of Christ.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: An Encouraging Word: I wish life was easier
