How hard is it to become a Christian?

(From the archive, a year from today)

“And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26)

I don’t believe it’s easy for anyone to become a Christian.

Our life as we know it is a product of influences from those surrounding us, those we have come to appreciate, those we have come to model our walk and talk after, regardless of their weaknesses.

I believe that it takes a higher power to convince and convict us that there is more to life than what we’ve been taught by our immediate society.

A Muslim, a Hindu, a Jew molding his life after Judaism, they all share similar struggle and challenges. They all find more acceptance from their surrounding religious community, if they abide to their religion.

Leaving their religion, their friends, their parents, their wealth, their community behind, is like leaving their entire life behind. No one in their right mind would want to do such a thing, unless they’re being persecuted or they have been offered and given something that is of a higher value than anything they once held precious.

And only God can give such a thing.

This reminds me of Habakkuk 1:5, where God said
“Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.”

You give a man plenty of money and not bother him with sickness and headaches. He feels that he can get anything that his heart ever desires, anything attainable with money or fame. He would probably be the last person to ever think of needing a savior. All his wealth and possessions will blind his heart enough to not even think about death, or what comes after death.

So when Christ said that…
“For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. ” (Luke 18:25)

that’s what he meant.

Those who are suffering from oppressions of any kind, they’re usually the ones seeking help, seeking healing, seeking to be free of their burdens, seeking someone to save them.

And when Christ said…
” If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” (John 7:37)

that’s what he meant.

But the good news that satisfies all of us, both the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, the righteous and the unrighteous, the living and the dead, is this:

“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)

Thank you God. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Holy Spirit. Amen.