Life Is Hard - Part 1

“If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place…Without warning your life can turn upside down, and who knows how or when it might happen?” (Proverbs 24:10, 22, MSG)

There is no easy life on earth; there are only different kinds and varying degrees of hard. The failure to teach and learn this truth is, I believe, at the root of much of the confusion in which we find ourselves living today. If we are constantly striving for a stress-free, worry-free, work-free life, we will likely end up with exactly the opposite outcomes. In my experience and observation, it’s usually more work in the long run to try to avoid doing the hard thing than it is to just knuckle down and get it done in the first place!

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” - Thomas Paine

Having said that, it’s vitally important for us to understand that human effort alone is not sufficient to overcome the challenges of life. There is a greater force at work within humanity and the created world against which we are ultimately powerless.

LIFE IS HARD BECAUSE OF SIN

From the Christian perspective, the struggles we all experience in life are, directly or indirectly, the result of sin. First there was the Original Sin: Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, which introduced corruption into an uncorrupted Paradise. The immediate consequence of The Fall was to sow discord into human relationships and bring about physical suffering and death for Adam and Eve. But tragically, the cruel effects of sin did not stop there:

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.” (Romans 5:12, TLB)

Because of Adam’s rebellion against God, every human being born into the world since that time has been born with a nature already inclined toward the same kind of selfish defiance against God’s will. The idea that humans are born innately good is a philosophical construct completely at odds with the teachings of Scripture. That’s not to say that humans are incapable of acting in a morally correct fashion from time to time, but our inherent bias is toward self-centeredness, which is at the root of sinful behavior. So we see that without divine intervention and redemption, we are both sinners by nature and sinners by choice, and the Bible is very clear regarding the consequences of this condition:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NLT)

It’s also important to note that not only does sin directly impact humans physically, spiritually, and emotionally, Adam’s rebellion also inflicted a curse on the entire universe in which we dwell:

“Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:20-22, NLT)

Throughout the whole of history, humans have tried to understand, explain, and even control the often-destructive natural phenomena we see happening on the earth, in the sky, and in the great expanse of space. But the explanation is really not that complicated: according to Scripture, the underlying, clearly observable entropy and decay of the natural world is a direct result of sin. This does not in any way ignore the sovereignty of God and His ability to control every aspect of creation for His own purposes, nor should we ignore the Biblical mandate to use natural resources prudently. But just as our human inclination toward sin cannot be overcome by human effort, neither can we control the world around us. Only God Himself can—and will—bring about “glorious freedom from death and decay” for both humanity and the world we inhabit.

Until that day comes, though, it is our lot in life to struggle. I know that’s not a popular viewpoint, but it is a truth we would do well to embrace rather than deny.

“You will never be entirely comfortable. This is the truth behind the champion - he is always fighting something. To do otherwise is to settle.” - Julien Smith

There is much more to unpack on this topic, so stay tuned!

See below for the audio version of this article.