Harder Than It Needs To Be

Usually we don’t have to fight with Ava to eat her dinner. However, this evening what should have been a 10 minute dinner, became closer to a 45 minute dinner. At some point during the meal, Ava and I had the following conversation…

Ava: But Mommy, I just want candy.
Me: Sorry, but you have to eat your food. That’s just the way it is.
Ava: But Mommy, it’s so hard to eat my food!
Me: It’s not hard. You are making it harder than it needs to be.

I wonder how many times we tell God, “But God, it’s so hard to do what you’ve commanded me to do.” And I wonder if God would like to say, “It’s not hard. You are making it harder than it needs to be.” We so often have our eyes on “the candy” when God is telling us that we need to eat “the good food.” God knows what is best for us, He knows what our opinions are, and ultimately, He is still the One to be obeyed. So maybe we need to just pull it together, and do what He is telling us to do. We will not only feel much better after we have obeyed, but we will please Him in the process.

Colossians 3:23,24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

James 1:22-25
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.