Is it really supposed to be this hard?

You know, we humans really make things hard, don't we? I mean I really don't think God intended for us to struggle with all of the finer details of the Christian life. Jesus laid it out pretty simply in Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Two commands; Love God with everything we have and love others. I like how one church puts it, "Love God and love people". It really is that simple. But somehow we make it much tougher. I believe part of it comes from how we define how we are to love God. There are so many hurdles to jump. There are so many i's to dot and t's to cross. It is just unmanageable sometimes, isn't it? My thoughts lately tell me this is all wrong. After much deliberation and intellectual discernment, I have come to a one word conclusion...... Are you ready? Here it is: "Hogwash". I told you it was sophisticated! If this life is hard as a believer, it is because we are making it hard. Make no mistake about it; Jesus told us we would suffer persecution because we follow Jesus. But Jesus also promises that He is with us every step of the way and when it gets too hard, He carries us through. We never go it alone as followers of Christ! Isn't that awesome? So tomorrow I hope to start a walk through these verses in scripture to see how we can simplify things and be dedicated, on fire, committed followers of Jesus Christ. May you spend some time today seeking Him in the quiet places of your heart. He is there waiting..........