Life is Hard
If you have been around a few years you have already discovered that life can be very hard. I’m a Christian pastor. I believe the Bible is the word of God and I believe you can build you life on it’s truths, rightly understood. The Bible plainly explains why life is hard and what to do about it.
Why Life is Hard
To state things in a straightforward way, life is hard because sin has cursed the whole world. You can read about this within the first three chapters of the Bible. It’s not happy reading but it explains a lot. The world we live in is cursed. It has a sin-curse on it. As a result the very earth itself is damaged. Relationships are affected by the curse. Theologians call it “the fall of man.” Relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters are affected by the fall—the curse.
The rest of the story of the Bible details God’s gracious plan to reverse and to lift the effects of the curse on people and on the earth itself.
When a person no longer has hope that he can cope with the multiplied hardships of life he is overcome with despair. But there is a story, a series of stories and poems and letters and discourses given to us by God through men, that is designed to restore your confidence that the sin curse can be overcome and that one day we can live on a renewed earth together with people we love in peace. The effects of the curse on creation will be lifted. The pain of broken relationships will be withdrawn.
How to Cope When Life is Hard
If you carefully follow the storyline in the Bible you will see that it is through Jesus that the curse is reversed and the earth and those who are redeemed—restored by Jesus and forgiven and rescued—are able to live on earth one day without the curse. By the end of the Bible a New Heaven has descended to a New Earth and it is a place of beauty and order and the worship of the One True God, Jesus Christ.
So one day Jesus himself will reverse the curse on earth and those who have turned from their sin and believed in him. Until then the scriptures teach us how to live in a world still cursed with hope and confidence—how not to be overwhelmed and overcome with despair. The scriptures give clear and practical guidance to those who want to live with hope in a world that is hard, but the Bible does not yield these treasures to those who do not take the time and make the effort to study, understand, and apply those truths.
Next time you feel crushed by the sadness of life, the curse and the brokenness of the sinful world among sinful people. Next time you feel defeated by your own sins and failures, look to Jesus and study the story of the Bible. Get a Christian mentor who can help you understand what steps to take to experience a life of hope. You will see in the scriptures why life hurts and why life is hard and what Jesus has done about it. You can make your way back to God through Jesus Christ. There is hope when life is hard. There is help when life hurts.
Send me a note. I will coach you on this if you like. Don’t yield to despair when life is hard.
Bittersweet Farm | September 7, 2023
