It's Harder to Believe than Not To

GodWords Newsletter #97

Thank you very much for your support! ❤️

Singer and songwriter Andrew Peterson once wrote:

Faith is a burden.
it’s a weight to bear,
and it’s brave and bittersweet…

It’s an amazing song, pointing to the fact that following Jesus can be difficult at times. That reminds me of another song, which you’ll find below. The title is Harder To Believe Than Not To. Steve Taylor may be best known for pointing to false teachers and hypocrisy, but - for me - his more powerful songs are about true faith, and how apparently rare and difficult true faith can be.

Jesus is calling you to follow Him. Not just to believe He exists, not to just believe He was a nice guy, not even to simply believe that He died to pay for your sins. No, there’s far more to being a Christian than appreciating Jesus.

In John 6, Jesus fed a huge crowd of men, women, and children. Needless to say, the crowd was wowed. After He moved on, they found out where He was and went there, too… but they came for the wrong reason:

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

These people - a lot like you and me - went where Jesus went because they wanted to see miracles, and they wanted the good things He offered them. They wanted excitement. They wanted blessings. Jesus knew that most of them were there for selfish reasons… they were far less interested in what Jesus said they should do than in what Jesus would do for them:

I am the bread of life… But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe… I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

The primary difference between the crowd and the Son of God was simply this: He put God’s will ahead of His own.

I tend to think a lot about me, and about my situation. Maybe you’re like me. Maybe a lot of what you do is more like waiting for miracles, and being fed, than subjugating your will to God’s will.

It’s harder to believe than not to.

Faith is a burden. It’s a weight to bear… but the choice to live as God intends is worth it. Giving up everything we have, to gain what God offers, is worth it. Losing our lives in order to find real life is worth it.

Please don’t think I’m suggesting that following Jesus is drudgery. It’s the opposite! Jesus said that His burden is LIGHT. True joy, true fulfillment, and true pleasure awaits everyone who decides to not just appreciate Jesus, but to devote their lives to His teaching. Jesus is God in flesh, the mirror image of the Father, and our way can never be better than His way.

Jesus is everything you never knew you always wanted.

The hard part is, quite simply, to surrender.

Are you sturdy enough to move to the front?
Is it nods of approval or the truth that you want?
- Steve Taylor

Come with me. Let’s follow Jesus together.

I love you all.
❤️

When You Feel Forgotten by God
Have you heard the silence of God? Have you wondered why He sometimes seems distant? Jason writes about reclaiming your agency from despair.

When God Speaks
Greg Koukl points to where a lot of us have completely misunderstood what it means to hear from God… and where we can all hear from Him directly. As always, I highly recommend his book Tactics.

The Best Bible Translation is...
I get this question a LOT. One answer is “the best Bible is the one you’ll read,” but that’s hardly the whole story. David does a good job here.

Grace, Truth, and the One Gospel: Disagreeing Without Disrespecting
If you’ve ever been in more than one online discussion about the Bible, you’ve found that it can be troubling and difficult. Bruce gives good advice for making it better.

GodWords: The Widow’s Mite
Most of us know the story of the widow who gave all she had. Someone asked me to calculate how much she actually gave.

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It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.
- Arthur Calwell

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Harder To Believe Than Not To: Steve Taylor

Inspired by a quote from Flannery O'Conner, this wonderful song sadly reminds us that many do not really know what it costs to follow Jesus. Taylor’s entire album is a tour de force that deserves to be on repeat.

Lyrics and links at Awesome Christian Music.

Are you sturdy enough to move to the front?
Is it nods of approval or the truth that you want?
And if they call it a crutch, then you walk with pride
Your accusers have always been afraid to go outside

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