The easy life

We live in an age of softies and quitters. We want to eat chocolate cake without gaining weight. We expect to have lean bodies without the effort and discipline of exercise. We want new cars and houses without thinking about the ravages of debt. We demand easy love, sex, money, school, marriage, parenting, and everything else imaginable. We're sure life should be fun. When we have to put out some effort and exercise a modest amount of discipline, we soon quit because “it's just too hard.”

Christianity Lite follows the same lines. May people who claim to be believers are absolutely sure God exists to make their lives pleasant. They love promises of blessings, and they don't want to hear anything about struggle, pruning, testing, and the process of growth.

Jesus was under no such illusions.— Christianity Lite, pages 88-89

<idle musing>
People want a vending machine god—no, that's not it. A vending machine god would require us to put something in! They want a Santa Claus god—no, that's not right either! A Santa Claus god would have a list, checking to see if you've been naughty or nice. They want a butler god; a god who is standing there, just waiting for their next command.

The problem is that no such being exists. Life can be hard. Life can be full of troubles. Life can be, well, life. We live in a fallen world; troubles and trials are a part of it. But, we have the promise of a loving God that he will be with us—no, he will be in us—through it all. That's a promise worth getting excited about!
</idle musing>