“This should be easy.” I find myself saying that a lot. When looking at a project or tackling a particular job, more often than not, I say “This should be easy.” I evaluate the task at hand, assess the situation, and make my proclamation. “No big deal. I can do it. This should be easy!” (Granted there are plenty of times when I look at problems or tasks and realize that they are not easy…but we’ll save those instances for another devotional. Today’s topic is focusing on the seemingly easy tasks.)
“It’s just a couple of screws holding it in place.” “All I have to do is put it in the oven and let it bake? No problem!” “I can get this done in a 20 minutes. Half hour tops.”
“THIS SHOULD BE EASY!”
Sometimes, these proclamations are followed by a job that is actually easy. Other times…well, you can imagine. What should be an easy thing turns into a much more complicated mess.
“THIS SHOULD BE EASY!”
Sometimes, these proclamations are followed by a job that is actually easy. Other times…well, you can imagine. What should be an easy thing turns into a much more complicated mess.
Let me give you an example. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to bake a pie. This isn’t something that I do often, and I’m no pastry chef, but I figured if I could follow the recipe, it would turn out well. So, I went at it. I prepared the dough for the crust. It wasn’t perfect, but it was edible. Not too bad so far. Then, I tackled the filling. I was hankering for my Grandma’s dutch blueberry pie made with Eagle Brand milk. I followed her recipe. The filling turned out great. Next, I assembled the pie. Mediocre job there. The crust didn’t go smoothly into the pie dish…again, it was edible, so it wasn’t a complete failure. Then, I poured the filling into the crust. I actually succeeded at this. No big mess. Overall, everything was going well. I had made it through all of the difficult steps. Now, I was onto what I considered to be the easy part. Put it in the oven, set a timer, and eat warm pie when the timer was done. “This part should be easy!” I thought to myself. It wasn’t.
I had made it through the hard stuff! The measuring, the pouring, the preparing, the assembling. All I had to do was the baking…and the oven wouldn’t heat up. No heat whatsoever. I could have stored chocolate in there with no fear of it melting. Complete failure. The difficult part was done! This was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t.
I tried the broiler. It worked. I tried the burners. They worked. I tried the bake function. Nothing. I turned it off and on and off and on. Again and again I tried. Again and again, nothing. At this point it was getting late in the evening, and I had to make a choice. Sacrifice the pie, or call for help. I believe that there are occasions for us to be sacrificial…this wasn’t one of those occasions. I called for help. First, I phoned my brother and sister in-law. No answer. I texted. No response. I prayed and called again. Nothing. Because it was late, and the pie needed to bake a while, I hesitated on what to do next. Sacrifice the pie, or call someone else? Isn’t it great to have in-laws who care for you and your pies? Thank you again Maggie for the use of your oven. The pie was delicious. Sorry I made it so late.
The easy part became the hard part. What should have been easy became difficult, and it didn’t stop there.
After eating my pie, I looked into the oven problem and consulted Google and YouTube to see if I could fix it. The likely culprit…a bad igniter. I looked into how to change them. “This should be easy.”
First, take out the old igniter. Should be a matter of a few screws. No big deal…until the ones in the oven were rusted in place. I lubricated them. Nothing. I prayed, I sweat, I twisted, I turned. Nothing. They wouldn’t budge. Finally, I had to drill them out. Bye bye screws. Threw them in the trash. After much more effort and sweat than I anticipated, I got to the part, and I removed it. Now to replace it. I called the Maytag repair store, they had the part in stock. I drove the 20 minutes to the store, old part in hand. The part they had in stock? It wasn’t right. It didn’t match. The worker informed me that I could cut some wires and tear the element out of this one to put in the old bracket, but I had to be careful because I might break it and there were no returns. No thanks. If they had the right part, it was a matter of just plugging it in. I drove 20 minutes back home empty handed. Then, I got online and found a place to ship me a new one. Should be there in a couple of days. I ordered it. When it arrived? It was broken. Shattered into a thousand pieces. They hadn’t wrapped it or packaged it well. Just threw it in a box. I called. I emailed. I waited. Nothing. Finally, I reached the company after a few days of trying. They sent a new part. It wasn’t broken, and it actually worked when I got it back together. My oven functions once more (although the plate at the bottom is not screwed in any longer…I figure it’s just easier access to the heating elements should I need to get under there again.)
This should be easy! Baking a pie for 45 minutes turned into over a week worth of waiting and hassle.
This should be easy! Baking a pie for 45 minutes turned into over a week worth of waiting and hassle.
These types of situations happen to me often. I start a project or go to fix something, thinking that it will be easy, and it turns out to be much more difficult than anticipated. Often, this unexpected difficulty is much harder to handle than it would have been if I had been prepared. If I knew the oven was going to break right then, I wouldn’t have assembled the pie. If I knew the Maytag store had the wrong part, I wouldn’t have traveled there. If I knew that the whole process was going to take so long, I wouldn’t have prepared enough dough for two pies…with one waiting to be made in the fridge…with me hoping it wouldn’t go bad and always thinking that this would be the day that the oven would be fixed.
I fear, that sometimes we (or at least I) approach life in Christ like that. We think it should be easy. We think that we should have an easy time in our relationship with Jesus. Not only that, we think that once we give our life to Christ, the rest of our difficulties should just fade away and we shouldn’t have to face any more hardships. We have this vision of calm waters, smooth sailing, easy peasy lemon squeezy, health, wealth, lots of friends, and good food…a problem and worry free existence.
Yet, we know that the above just isn’t true. It’s not.
In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble.”
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul says this:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:10-12)
Jesus, the Son of the Father, God Incarnate, says “You will have trouble.” Paul says, “You’re in a fight against spiritual forces of evil.” Why do we expect everything in life to be easy? Why are we surprised when troubles come our way? Why are we caught so off guard when the unexpected difficulties arise? Maybe, we should be surprised when things go easily!
Now, I don’t want for us to walk around all gloomy and expect nothing but catastrophes, feeling like there is no hope. After all, Jesus finishes up his thought in John by saying, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” “You’ll have troubles, but I am greater than them.” “You will have a difficult time, but I have already claimed a victory.”
Similarly, Paul’s warning isn’t one of fear, but of hope and of preparation. Ephesians 6:13 continues, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” “You’re in a spiritual battle. Be prepared for it, put on the armor of God, and when it is all said and done, you’ll stand, you’ll be victorious.”
If we are following Jesus, we can expect trouble. We can expect to be in a spiritual battle. We should not expect life to be easy. We should expect trials and hardships, testing and tribulation.
Though that is the case, we should also expect victory through Christ. We know that Jesus has already overcome the world, and we know that we are able to equip ourselves with the armor of God (for a full description, read Ephesians 6:10-20). We should heed Paul’s advice and be prepared.
Finally, there is also this reminder in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Though things may not go as easily as we’d like, though we may not avoid hardships and difficulties, we can know that Jesus has overcome the world, that we can be prepared for the battle, and that God will use all things for our good…even those things that we do not enjoy. He can use them for our good when we love him and are following his path.
I don’t know about you, friends, but the next time I go to bake a pie, I plan to be better prepared. I know that it may not go as smoothly as I would like. Then, when troubles arise, I will expect them. I will know that there is victory in Jesus, and I will trust that God can even use a broken oven and a whole lot of hassle for good in my life.
~ Pastor Chris
