Chocolate Christian?

Following on from my last blog called Even When It Hurts, I have decided to pose another question. It is this: if you're not willing to follow Him when it hurts, are you really following Him at all?

It's a thought that I have paraphrased from the book Do Hard Things by Brett and Alex Harris. Point is this. Everyone has good times and easy times. Times when things go well. When being a Christian isn't all that hard. But what about the times when being a Christian is hard? What about when your friends desert you because of your belief? What about when you are ridiculed or put down, shut out or ignored? Will you still be so eager to follow Him?

Or what about when God tells you to go talk to a new person at church, or a lonely person at school? Still so eager?

Or what about other things that hurt and stretch you? The things you haven't done before. The things that you are afraid of. The things that take you out of your comfort zone. Are you still eager? Or do you want to ignore them?

This is something I have a lot of problem with. Sometimes I want to run away and hide from all my duties as an adult, as a christian and as a leader. But, despite all this, I know that I need to hang in during the testing times and not only that, but live a life of selflessness rather than selfishness. As it says in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." The key part is the denying of self. Whatever it is, deny self and complete the task. When what you're doing hurts and stretchs you, deny self and see it through.

Is all you're doing showing the light that you proclaim? Or are you only there while its easy?

If you're not willing to follow Him when it hurts, are you really following him at all?