Sometimes life is so hard.  And sometimes the hardness of life makes you want to throw up your hands and in exasperation just give it all up.  There is a big part of us that thinks that life is supposed to be easy and we want it to be easy.  I am not sure where the idea that life was easy ever came from, but I am very sure that wherever it came from, it was a big fat lie.  Life is not easy, it’s rough, tough and hard.  Sometimes life just gets to be more than we can handle.  And when life gets this way it is important for us to get our thinking right!

We want life to be comfortable.  Multiple millions of dollars are made each and every year by businesses that promise to make life easier and more comfortable.  We will pay big bucks for comfort, but there is some comfort that no amount of money will ever be able to buy!

Our problem is not that life is sometimes uncomfortable, but that we have this wrong thought in the first place!  We want life to be comfortable, we think life can and should be comfortable and we do everything we can in our power to make sure that life is comfortable, but still uncomfortable always seems to find where we are living and has no problem knocking on our door and inviting itself right on in.

I was reading through the Gospel of John and it was interesting to me that in three different places Jesus said:  “I am going, so that I can send the comforter!”  Here read it for yourself:

 ¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments.  ¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  -John 14:16-17

 ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:  ²⁷And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.  -John 15:26-27

⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  ⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  ⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me;  ¹⁰Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ¹¹Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.  -John 16:7-11

Now one simple question:  Why would Jesus need to leave, so that He could send us a comforter?  How about a simple answer:  Because He knew that we were going to be uncomfortable and need help!

We expect comfort when Jesus plainly told us that we were going to be uncomfortable, but that He would send a comforter to help us.  The Simple Bottom Line:  Stop focusing on your uncomfortable situation and start focusing on your Comforter and you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your life!

I am a Pastor, because that is what God called me to be!  I am not a Pastor, because I woke up one day and thought:  “Out of all the things I can be in this world, I think I want to be a Pastor!”  I am a Pastor, because one day when I was getting ready to become a teenager, I felt God’s leading in my life as I read and studied His Word, and I knew that God had called me, since before I was even born to serve His Church by loving His people, preaching and teaching His Word and giving my all to help His spiritual body to give Him glory.

I fought it for a while and through the years, I have thought more than a few times about getting out of it.  But being a Pastor is what I was created for.  I care about people and I want everyone to tap into and discover the power of their spiritual lives.  I don’t do this because I need a job, the truth is there are much easier jobs that I could do with my eyes closed.  I don’t do this because I am on an ego trip and need to be in charge of something, I can be in charge of a lot of different things, if I make the choice to be.  I do this simply because it is what God has called me to do and my greatest fulfillment comes from doing what God created, called and gifted me to do.

If you are fortunate enough to have a Pastor that is called, stop today and every day and take time to pray for Him.  Being a Pastor in this world today is one of the hardest things that a person could ever have to do.  While there are a handful of people who do it for all of the wrong reasons, there are just as many more that do it, because this is what they were called to do and we are just trying to be faithful.

Not really sure why I shared all of this, but had it on my heart and in my head and needed to get it out.  I hope it might provide a little insight that will help us all to serve our King and His Kingdom with a little more zest!  God Bless and Keep It Real!