GOING TO THE EFFORT

Today's reading: 1 Timothy 4-6

"We work hard and suffer much in order that people will believe the truth, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people , and particularly of those who believe." 1 Timothy 4:10 NLT

I think of Paul as he wrote this letter to Timothy.

He wanted to encourage his young student to remain strong in his faith, but he also wanted this new disciple to know it wouldn't be easy.

Paul tried to explain to Timothy that living for the Lord would be hard, sharing his faith would be hard, remaining Christ-focused would be hard.

But attempting to live life without God, that would be harder.

We don't like doing hard things.

We don't want to inconvenience ourselves.

We are perfectly content to remain in our soft, cushy comfort zones.

And in doing that, in living for Christ inside those 'easy' boundaries?

Well, it shows we have little to no concern for the souls of those around us.

Paul knew how hard it was to spread the Gospel, but he also knew every ounce of effort he made would be grandly, richly, eternally rewarded by the Lord!

It's worth our effort, too.