“Being a Christian seems too easy.”

This was a sentiment I came across online the other day that really caught me off guard. In the corresponding post, this person (who was not a Christian), sought to eviscerate the faith by reducing it to nothing more than a few magic words.
“You say this prayer,” he said, “and it gives you leeway to do whatever you want with your life without consequence. You can essentially go out and be a total *expletive* but it doesn’t matter because your God forgives you. There’s no accountability, no reason to change, because all you have to do is keep repeating these ‘magic words’ over and over and you’ll still get into heaven, no matter what. It’s too easy. I don’t buy it.”

Now, I’ll be completely honest, my first reaction to this post was anger. I hated seeing my faith reduced to a caricature. I was very, very tempted to respond with snark. But thankfully cooler heads (and the Holy Spirit) prevailed. I was able to pause, think, and pick through the man’s post logically.

Because, on the surface, he’s right.

The Christian faith is too easy.

We can’t buy grace. We can’t earn it. The fact that God just wants to give it to us–for free–seems too good to be true. That “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” is counter-intuitive to our culture. We get what we earn, what we deserve. For the God of the world to have willingly sacrificed Himself so that I could have eternal life, even when I didn’t know/believe/love Him, can make us very uncomfortable if we really sit and stew in that truth. And when you add in the bonus that all I have to do to gain access to this eternal life is profess my belief in Him, I get it–it does seem too incredibly easy.

But it’s also the hardest thing in the world.

Because believing in Jesus isn’t just about muttering some kind of “magic words,” as this poster claims. Saying you put your faith in Jesus is wonderful…but it’s just the first step.

True faith requires action.

But what kind of action? Not the religious legalese or church-going checklist that so many fall into.

It’s the action of following Jesus.

Of doing what He said.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'” –Matthew 16:24

This is where the poster gets it wrong. Because anyone who professes faith in Jesus but then goes out and continues to live life just as he/she always has, even so far as being an *expletive* as this person puts it, hasn’t really put their faith in Jesus. Because true faith in Jesus means following Him.

Following His words, His actions, His example.

It means hard things like forgiving those who don’t deserve it. It means turning the other cheek when someone offends or hurts you. It means loving the unloveable. It means hoping in things we cannot see. It means putting others first.

In short, it means sacrifice.

Denying yourself–your wants, your needs, your desires–daily for the pursuit of something greater.

And, if you think that’s easy, then you’re either superhuman…or you haven’t tried to do it.

So yes, being a Christian is too easy. We don’t deserve God’s grace. We can’t earn it, yet He freely gives it.

But being a Christian is also the hardest thing in the world. It requires a daily death to self that every aspect of our nature rebels against.

Yet, unlike the rewards this world offers for following it, the benefits of following Jesus are eternal. They are infinite.

And they are definitely worth it.