Jesus Never Said...Life would be Easy

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Welcome to Shoes Off, a weekly podcast where we pause, take off what weighs us down, and take a step onto holy ground. Hey, before we get into this week's episode, Isaac and I would just like to thank everyone personally for taking time out of your day to listen to us. We've been going strong since the beginning of the year, and we felt compelled over the next two months to just spend time with our family. It's the summertime here in the United States, and we got a lot of family vacations, we got uh church camps, and just a lot of things that we want to spend time with our families intentionally. And so we're gonna be back in August with a brand new series. So we want you during this time to just study God's word, maybe go back in the previous episodes, listen again, write scripture, and read more in depth. And we will see you back at the first of August. Have a great summer. Isaac, I think a lot of people carry disappointment, maybe with life as they get older, because as kids, everything's easy. And as you get older, obviously the things of life start to come about. And deep down, I think they expect things to get easier as they get older. Yeah, and I think adulthood has like a way of like humbling all of us. And it doesn't take that long for us to realize that stress never fully disappears and responsibilities just continue to grow, that the pressures always seem to increase, and that life really can wear people down. Honestly, I think that's part of the struggle was the somewhere along the way, people began believing that following God meant life would become easier, but Jesus never actually promised that. So with that, let's get right into the scripture. Jesus actually told us there would be trouble. And the scripture we're gonna reference today, if you're taking notes, is in John chapter 16, verse 33. It's actually the last verse in John 16, and we got Matthew chapter 16 and verse 24. And I'm gonna read John 16 and 33. And actually, Jesus spoke these words. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of heart, I have overcome the world. And then in Matthew chapter 16, the 24th verse, also the words of Jesus, says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, then follow me. Yeah, one thing that stands out when you actually read Jesus' words is how honest and direct he was. And he never painted a picture for us that it was going to be comfortable or it was going to be easy or problem-free for us. But in John 16, 33, Jesus said, In this world, you will have trouble. He didn't say you might have trouble. He said you will have trouble. Isaac, what do you think of that? Yeah, it's something that I think that's kind of hard for us to understand. And like you said, it's not a mighty Jesus didn't say you might have trouble, but you will have trouble. And I think that's something that's kind of difficult for us to think about. And also, we read in Matthew 16, but also I was kind of drawn to the Sermon on the Mount on Matthew 5, too, and probably a scripture that you're that we're all somewhat familiar with. But he actually says, Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And he says, Blessed are you when men will revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you. Like there was there's so many times that he says that. But then at the end of this verse in John 16, that you said, In this world you're gonna have trouble. But he says, Take heart, for I have overcome the world. And really that changes everything because the promise wasn't you were gonna have easy circumstances, that life for us as Christ followers was gonna be easy. But the promise he does make us is that he has overcome the world and that he is gonna be present in the middle of all those problems that we have and all those circumstances where we're struggling, his presence will be right there in the middle of them. Amen. I think about the old song that I can't remember the group that sang it originally, uh but it was like, this world's not my home. I'm just passing through. Have you ever heard that? You ever heard that song? And I think that's exactly what Jesus also told us in the scriptures that this world was never meant to be our home. I mean, they I think the Bible even says we're pilgrims and we're strangers. And in Philippians chapter three and verse 20, Jesus even says there that our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body to be like his glorious body. And so what he was telling us there is that we're not citizens of this earth and of this world, but our citizenship and our destination is heaven, and this world was never meant to be our home. I think that's something that we always kind of think that is weird, too, is that we're I think we all know that we're not going to be here forever, but just that this is something that but just a temporary thing, and I think that's hard for us to think about because God has blessed us with very long lives. And obviously, it wasn't the same that Adam or Moses had, but many people get to live in the past 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s up to hundreds. We live what feels like really long lives here, but it can in comparison to eternity, we're only here for a short time. And I think sometimes that's a good perspective for us to think about it. And you were saying that the earlier about I'm just traveling through, and that's something that Billy Graham used to say a long time ago, too. My home is in heaven, and I'm just traveling through this world. And honestly, that perspective changes how you handle that hardship. And you were talking about that song earlier, and I don't know if this is what you were talking about, but I was thinking about because my father-in-law sings this song, Abula Land. Yeah, is that what you were thinking of? No, there's another song that's like this world's not my home. I'm just passing through. Yeah, and it made me when you were just saying that, it made me think of that. I can hear I'm saying I'm kind of homesick for a country of one I've never been there before. Right. But you know, that that's kind of that is what we're told in the Bible is that what we're going through here is just it's so temporary because our eternal home is with him. So many amazing songs. Now that we're sitting there talking and thinking about that, there are so many songs that actually is was written to give Christians perspective and hope that we're not here eternally. Like this is just we're just passing through. Hebrews 13. I love backing up this with scripture and always giving scripture to the listeners, but Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 14, uh, the Bible even says there that for here we have no lasting city, but we seek a city that is to come. And again, that's just a reference for you know, the city that we're seeking is not here, but it's the heavenly city that we're looking forward to. And another scripture here in 1 Peter chapter 2, and the 11th verse, it says right right there, it says, Deal with beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. And that is how we're addressed as it. It is as people that are not permanent here. It has uh it gives us that insight that there is another place that we're going and that we are strangers and pilgrims in this land, and we're not home yet. Yeah. In this next, again, we just hit a couple of key points that we wanted to bring out. Jesus actually told us there would be trouble, and this world was never meant to be our home. And the next one is about life's pressures, they quietly consume us. And Isaac, you're just in your knees, and so we're not gonna reveal your age, but you probably at some point you had you crossed that threshold where you're like, uh wake up one day and you realize you got all these responsibilities that you're consumed by, and you're trying to provide, you're trying to lead your family, you're trying to work hard, build a career, manage stress, keep everything together, and all of a sudden life becomes this nonstop pressure that you didn't have as a kid. And if you did have it, it maybe it just was a little bit different. But all with that said, though, I think the context here is that as you become an adult, life does seem to get or put a lot of pressure on us where we get consumed with this world. Yeah, and I think a lot of people can probably relate with this whole situation within itself. And I feel like anybody uh they remember they're kind of younger, and uh, you said, like, I'm still unfortunately not in my early 20s anymore. But as I'm going, as I'm going through my 20s, at least within it all, there are differences in what you think about and what responsibilities you do have. And I remember like when you're a kid, it feels like you do have a lot on your plate. Like I remember in high school it felt like I had a lot with homework and clubs and after school activities and going here and there and trying to make all the stuff that you have, and then you go to college and you see it's like even more of that kind of stuff. And you know, I look back on adulthood, and now I have to pay taxes and pay rent and you know, all of that fun stuff. And you're like, man, I wish I could go back to college, or I wish I could go back to high school. Man, I I used to not have to do anything. And it just it feels that the more we go, it just can it just continues. We just get responsibility after responsibility, like you said. Honestly, there's even good things that can kind of consume us. And work is something that a lot of people complain about, but a lot of people do enjoy at the same time. And hopefully our listeners are in a job that you enjoy going to and have stuff to do. It could even be like your schedule. Our our schedule is super busy, and like we have vacations coming up, and in our church, we have VBS and we have church camp and we have our family fellowship guy. Like we're busy, and that's an awesome thing. And but those can consume us too. It can be going to all of our church responsibilities as well, or any expectations that we have. And I think what we see so often is that people can become so busy just surviving in life that they stop living with this eternal perspective of what life really is. Yeah, I think that's the hardest part. I think if if we're just gonna be real on this podcast, is sometimes through the week, I'm just so heads down into work that I've just zoned out everything else. And sometimes you just you ask yourself, you're like, is that my whole purpose? Like, I haven't even thought eternal perspective. And I think that's just the balance that even us as Christians fall into living in this world that we get so consumed with work or maybe things of the world that sometimes, as you said, we do lose that eternal perspective. And sometimes we uh sometimes we do go through hard seasons. That and that's something that the Bible tells us too. While on earth, as we pass through, life isn't going to be easy. We are gonna go through hard seasons. I'm nearing my 50s now, and honestly, I can say I've gone through things that I never thought I'd face before, and probably I wouldn't choose to go through them again. But looking back, Isaac, those seasons produced uh wisdom, it produced perspective, it produced a dependence on God that uh comfort would have never produced for me. And James even talks about this in James chapter one, verses two through four. He says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now, I do want to I do I do want to put a disclaimer out there that a lot of the some of the things that I went through I brought upon myself, and we do that even through life, but there are trials that we go through too that I think we're tested, our faith is tested and things like that. And hard seasons can change you. I think that's the point that we're trying to bring out is even as we go through life and as we're in this world, there will be hard seasons, but those hard seasons can change you, and sometimes they could, yeah, they might be bad as you go through them, but you look back and you're like, man, I gained a lot of wisdom out of that. You may be listening to us now and think about some of the trials that you've gone through, and you're like, I would never do that again. But now on the other side, I've learned this and this. And so that's some of the perspective I think we would bring. Yeah, absolutely. And and really what we see is that suffering in a sense of it, it really has a way of stripping away illusions. And I think what we start actually seeing is we start realizing what actually does matter and what doesn't matter, and what are the things that do last, and what are uh and what things really never actually satisfied you anyway. And I think you start learning a lot about the first two things, what matters and what doesn't. And it you give that James, but I'm also thinking here in Romans chapter five, in verses three through five, it says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And Paul is saying here to the Romans that that tribulation that we have, it it works our patience, and that patience that we get, it makes experience. The experience we get gives is hope, and their hope is all in the love of God. And it just that's something that we can always go through. And you think about Psalm 23 in this too. Yeah. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, because you're with me, your rod and your staff comfort me. And those are words that we can look at and think about that. Even in those tribulations, where we can see what matters is God, and God is what matters that in our relationship with him. You just mentioned the comforting, and my mind meeting went to when Jesus was leaving himself, and we've talked about this, I think, in the podcast before, is when Jesus was leaving, he told his disciples, Hey, I'm gonna leave. And there was also a time where he talked about your faith, you'll be tried for your faith, and it wouldn't be easy. But Jesus did say he would give us the comforter. And I think that's one thing that we can't forget as Christians here is that we weren't left here just to do this on our own. Jesus actually sent the comforter to us, and he talks about that in John chapter 14 and 16 and 18. And he says, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. And it says the world cannot see, that's those that don't know Jesus Christ. But this is important to realize Jesus didn't just leave us here to suffer or go through trials or go as we go through this world, but he promised the Holy Spirit to us, the comforter, to be with us until we can be back together with him again in heaven. Yeah, it the piece that we see described in scripture was never really dependent on perfect circumstances. And when we look at the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit guides us, it but it does more than guides us, it comforts us, it convicts us, it strengthens us, and it reminds us constantly that we are not abandoned. And Jesus said, as you said, we you just mentioned there at the end of John, when he goes away, we said, like, you're not going to be alone. I'm giving you that person to be with you. And that is the spirit that we do have. Yeah. One other thing that I want us to talk about before we get into what this means for us in practical life and how can we apply it, is that there's a perspective, Isaac. We're we're based out of the United States. We have several that listen to us outside of the United States, and the church obviously is worldwide, but there's a perspective from the global church. If you think about that, honestly, Christians outside the United States probably often understand this better than we do. There are believers around the world that's risking their freedom, their safety, their jobs, even their lives, just to follow Jesus. And some of them have church in their basement to hide and be able to practice their faith. And we have the freedom to practice our faith. Others don't. And so that brings a whole new perspective to life wouldn't be easy as through here, but that Jesus would be with us. Yeah, and that's something I think about a lot. And you're there's modern-day organizations that that share a lot of these stories. Anyone or listeners are familiar with the voice of the martyrs, they have tons of stories about believers enduring things that that we really couldn't really imagine. And if you've never heard of the voice of martyrs, we highly recommend you go look them up and and see everything and all the stories and support them in any way. But I was just talking about this too the other day with my wife. Uh, but if we look at the early church and the beginning of Acts and see all the things that they had to go through, and you you're reading the story of Stephen, and Stephen's dragged in and tried, and he goes up and he speaks everything to them and shares the gospel with them and shows them how all of the word of God from beginning to this point where they are now was all pointing towards Jesus. And that that's a super important thing. But Stephen was stoned for that. Yeah, and he was silenced on this earth, he was silenced, but he couldn't be silenced forever. And I'm so gracious that we had forerunners ahead of us that were willing to put their lives on the line so we could know about Jesus today. It's just something that I think is important for us to think about. Yeah. Well, let's get into the practical applications that we want to share with you. I think we have four four things that we wanted to share really quickly here. One is slow down and remember eternity. Again, sometimes we get so consumed by life's pressure, and sometimes most of the time it's temporary pressure, but we dwell in it, and sometimes we completely lose that eternal perspective. So just slow down and have that eternal perspective, even when you're going through those things. Yeah. Secondly, don't waste the hard seasons. Pain can either harden people or it can deepen them. And it's really up to you of what perspective are you going to take on that? Are you going to be a person that once you go through the hard season, it just hardens your heart? Or are you going to open your heart and allow God to just be able to continue working on you and deepening your heart? Yeah. And third is peace is different than ease. And so Jesus never promised us an easy life, but he did promise us peace in the middle of it. So life would never be easy. He didn't promise it will always be easy, although sometimes it is, but he did provide and promise us peace through it all. Yeah. And then fourth, that your journey still has a purpose. And even difficult seasons can shape things. And like we've said, they can shape wisdom or compassion and endurance and faith. And nothing is wasted when it is put into God's hands. And we just encourage you to still keep putting your journey in God's hands. So with that, let's uh let's look at our challenge for this week. And what we're really looking for this week is we want you as well as us to take a moment to step back from the pressure and just ask yourself this question What am I living for that will actually last? Yeah. And when stress starts consuming your mind this week, just pause and remember the world's temporary, but what we do in it matters eternally. Yeah, and like we've just kind of been saying this whole time, Jesus never said life was going to be easy, but he did say to take heart because he did overcome this world. And that's if we can leave you with anything in that if you're a follower of Christ and you're listening to the podcast today, just keep on that path. Keep trusting him with everything that you have. And if anyone's listening today and you don't know Jesus is your personal savior, I want you to know that I think that there is a lie out there that if you give your life to Christ, everything in your life is going to be perfect. There's still going to be troubles, but the life that he gives is a life that's going to be more abundant. And we're going to that better land that we talked about earlier. And Jesus has gone and he's made a home for you. Heaven is meant to be all of our home. And Dad, you and I say it all the time, but unfortunately, hell has to keep expanding its gates every single day. Yeah. And that that's just a sad story. And that's a sad story for God. And God doesn't want that. Or there is room in heaven for every person listening. There's room in heaven for every person that that's ever been born. And that's where he wants you to be at today. And I do want to give one more scripture because I think it's just important through this, is because there may be someone today too that's listening, and you're going through a hard time too. And I just I anytime I'm going through a hard time, I just always kind of think about this. But the 30th Psalm, the psalmist says in the fifth verse, he says, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Yeah. And the tribulations and the things that we go through on this earth, it's going to feel like a night. And there's going to be a lot of weeping in this lifetime that we have. But one day we're all going to wake up on a heavenly shoreline and be able to see. And that joy that we're going to have is going to be never ending. And there will be no more weeping. There will be no more sorrowing. And that joy, again, as I said earlier in that song that my father-in-law sings, it's something that makes you homesick for that joy that'll be here very soon. Yeah, so good. What a promise. Well, let's pray to end this episode. God, when life feels heavy and exhausting, just remind us that this world isn't our final home. Help us not to become consumed by the temporary pressures and distractions. Give us peace in difficult seasons, wisdom through hardship, and strength to continue walking faithfully in you. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us through life's struggles and help us live with eternal perspective, knowing that even painful seasons can produce something meaningful and lasting for you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us on Shoes Off. Until next time, keep walking in faith. And remember, growth begins on holy ground.