You Can’t Escape Your Reality

Many times, I hear people say, “I just need a vacation,” or “I just need a night out” like it is going to fix whatever situation is plaguing them at the time. Don’t get me wrong, we all need time to ourselves, and we all need a break sometimes. The issue is that when we rely on those things as solutions to our problems, it never works, or at least, it never lasts.

When I was living for the world, I would do this all the time. I would say, “I just need a night of partying, or a ‘girls’ night,” or whatever method I felt was best to cope with life at the time. It was fun in the moment, but the next day, not only were my problems still there, I had a hangover to add to it.

I’d like to say life gets easier once you establish a relationship with God, but it doesn’t. Why else would the bible say, “small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life”? If being a Christian was always easy, wouldn’t more people follow that path?

The more you seek God, the more the devil comes after you. He knows your weak points, and he doesn’t fight fairly. I know the devil has really been battling me lately. It’s like all my joy was just zapped in an instant, and I started to feel this old, familiar feeling of depression encroach upon me. I didn’t feel like praying or reading my bible, and some days, I didn’t feel like even going to church, but I pressed on. I knew if I didn’t, I was going to fall back into a place that I didn’t want to be.

In Mark 4:15-19, Jesus explains, “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that’s sown in them. Other’s like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

Notice that Jesus says, “when trouble or persecution comes BECAUSE of the word.”  The word “because” reveals that you will undergo trouble and persecution. It’s inevitable, but Paul said, “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Satan’s goal is to snatch the word that was sown in you, so it doesn’t take root. Just like a garden, if you don’t cultivate your spiritual roots, then whatever spiritual seed was sown in you won’t flourish or bear fruit. We must consider what kind of fruit we are bearing. Are we bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, or are we like the seed sown among the thorns that bear the fruit of our flesh?

 The devil wants you to feel hopeless and condemned, but that’s not what God wants for you, and that’s not what He wants for me. We can’t escape our reality, but we do have a loving, merciful God who promised to always be with us, who has plans for us of good and not evil, to give us a hope and a future.