My family and I had a great time on vacation to the Mammoth Lakes area of California. This year, though, we saw a tremendous amount of signs around town – bumper stickers, road signs, store windows, etc. – “Don’t Feed Our Bears!”
We learned the reason why at a Visitor Center in Yosemite National Park. Bears need to gain enough weight to survive their winter hibernation. They do this by finding food, some of which can move away from them! Gaining weight takes both time and effort for bears. It’s simply hard work. (Why does gaining weight come so easily for me? That’s food for another day.)
Then you get the Yogi the Bear cartoon where all Yogi can think about is getting picnic baskets. It’s funny in a cartoon, but not in real life. Picnic baskets are easy food, which a bear might think is a blessing. But in fact, picnic baskets are not always plentiful or healthy enough to prepare a bear for winter. Once a bear tastes human food, they don’t want to keep searching for bear food. This makes them more aggressive, which means the Park Rangers end up having to hunt and eliminate the bear. Easy food is not a blessing to the bear.
An easy life is not always a blessing to humans either. We often equate the blessings of God with an easy life. This simply is a lie! The Bible repeatedly states that those who walk with Jesus will not have it easy. We live in enemy territory. What makes us think our enemy wants us to have it easy, unless that easy life is a distraction from walking with Jesus? Surrender is difficult. Walking takes effort. Getting to know someone takes time. Following takes trust. Exercising the truth adds up to less than an easy life.
The “good life” is not always easy, but there is tremendous blessing in getting to know and love Jesus more and more throughout our lives. Don’t confuse the two.
Set Fre“E” Nowww