The Hardest Thing

Lately, I've been thinking about what the hardest thing a Christian in America is. If you ask four different people, you'll get four different answers to that question. Those answers could be complacency, the hypocrisy of Christians, the degradation we face, or the difficulty of the distractions the world hurls at us.

While all of these are respectably difficult to face as an American Christian, I wouldn't say that any of these specific things are the hardest ones we have to face. Gun to my head, the one thing that I'd say is harder for a Christian in America to face than any other is for then to lose their fire for God.

I want to make sure it's clear that I mean fire, not faith. The reason I would say that it's losing the fire is because as hard as the other answers are, losing your fire for God is a stepping stone that leads to other things. I'll use the four examples above to explain what I mean by this.

1. Complacency
When we lose our fire for God, it's easier to sit in the same place in life and just let opportunities pass us by. It can cause us to feel lazier, to take the easy way out instead of doing what we're called to do, or even to just make excuses and pass on the responsibilities we know were meant for us to someone else just so we don't shake up our current lifestyle. When we become complacent, we fall short of the mark that was set for us when we were saved. It doesn't strip us of our salvation, as there is no force in the universe that can do that, but it makes our faith stagnant and turns us next to useless until we fight our way back to that fire.

2. Hypocrisy
By losing our fire, we also decrease our willingness to listen to the voice of the Spirit and obey when it tells us that what we're doing is wrong. Mentally, we know that the Bible speaks against a specific action, but we also have an easier time than we should tamping down that knowledge and doing the opposite of what we know to be right. It also makes it easier to criticize others for doing what we know as wrong and ignore our own shortcomings and faults.

3.Degradation
The degradation we face as Christians from the public around us usually comes from the hypocrisy that the world sees from us. The people who give us the titles of "hate-monger, Bible thumper, close-minded" do so because that's what they see happen in the public light. Sadly, that is usually caused by losing the fire for God and allowing a fire for ungodly things to take its place. Usually we justify these actions by misquoting scripture, or pointing the finger at things done in the past. However, this is just another example of the voice of the Spirit being muted and listening to our own voice or the voices of the enemies of God instead. This causes degradation towards us amongst those who see us, and is also a cycle that can beat Christians down enough to have their inner fire quenched.

4. Distraction
In a world of technology, social media, television, instant movies and other services, if we lose our focus on God, it's easy to forget to pick it back up. The thing is, losing our focus on God is easier if we don't feel a drive or a passion to focus on Him, or we simply think of it as a chore we have to do to stay in His good graces. Without the fire that drives us towards Him and His plans or works for us, it becomes far too easy to allow ourselves to get immersed in things that don't matter, such as a new show or book series, or games and contests that make no real difference.

Again, all of the things I listed above are extremely difficult for a Christian to deal with, especially when they crop up together as they usually do. The biggest issue with it, however, is that they all stem from a common source: losing the fire or passion to seek God and to submit to His plan for our lives. I cannot honestly say that I've met anyone who has never succumbed to at least a temporary bout of this condition, and as a result has let one or more of these things into their lives. The hardest part about losing your fire is getting it back. It's as hard to climb back to the starting point as it was easy to go away from it. But it's not impossible, and it's definitely worth the journey back, even if you have to let go of some things that cause you pain when you do.