6 Hardest Things to Do as a Christian

Whether that person is a mean coworker, a disgruntled boss, an angry neighbor, putting ourselves out there to serve others can feel like a chore. If you’re already introverted and aloof, serving an enemy is bound to feel contrary to your human nature.

Yet, despite how we feel on the inside, or what we see on the outside from others, scripture is pretty clear on this topic. We are to forgive others and bless them. We can pray and if given the opportunity, should serve them.

Now, there’s no need to take Scripture to the literal extreme. Jesus often spoke in parables, and for good reason - we can take away multiple meanings. We should be willing and ready to serve our enemies, but this does not literally mean doing anything and everything asked of us. If your enemy asks you to rob a bank on their behalf. The obvious response is no. If your enemy asks you to hand over all of your finances, the answer is again no, but if they wanted a cup of sugar, what’s the worst that could happen?

Pray for ways to serve your enemies and seek discernment for how to best do so.

Speaking of enemies, trusting, and waiting, sometimes calamities stack up so much in our lives we begin wondering if God is really on our side. If God is so good, why does He let such awful things happen to us? And not just to us, but people across the world.

Whenever God’s goodness comes into question, we should do like the figures of old did in Scripture - remember. Doubt occurs because we forget the good God has done on our behalf and for other people. Our focus shifts from the positive to the negative. When we remember God’s goodness, we reverse this process. Then suddenly, the doubt fades away.

The best way to remember God’s goodness is to seek what reminds you of God. Reading Scripture, journaling, praying, and good community all help, but they aren’t the only methods. What’s something you can do today?

One unfortunate trend that affects the church is superficiality, where people only reveal their surface-level selves, and thus, prevent any sort of deep connection. For Christians looking for community, this poses an immediate barrier for those who want depth. Scripture states that iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17), but how much can we sharpen one another without being vulnerable?

Sharpening requires exposure, and exposure requires vulnerability.

And the issue of being superficial is not confined to one church or one denomination. Most churches have become much like the rest of our culture, inwardly focused even as we talk about serving others. We focus far too much on ourselves.

If community is what you’re after, know that there are people out there for you. Finding them will require effort on our part, but also praying and waiting on God. Trust Him to provide.

Part of the reason people doubt the Christian faith is that they see us as hypocrites. We encourage the world to behave in one way, but we very often act just like them. Licentiousness, avarice, theft, and more. What we have to remind the outside world is that church is for broken people. We are broken people, and that is why being Christ-like is difficult. There will never be a day when we are exactly like Him. There can’t be. But the goal is to try, aiming for perfection though never arriving.

We struggle day by day with the flesh, maintaining faith, waiting, and the list goes on. We will never be perfect, but the more we are like Him, the more we live for His glory.

There’s no doubt being a Christian is hard, but much like the other decisions we make in life, we choose our hard. To be a Christian or to not be a Christian. To work hard at becoming a better Christian or to not work hard at being a better Christian. The choice is up to us, but the benefits are clear. Choose your hard.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/dragana991 

Aaron D'Anthony Brown is a freelance writer, hip-hop dance teacher, and visual artist, living in Virginia. He currently contributes work to iBelieve, Crosswalk, and supports various clients through the platform Upwork. He's an outside-the-box thinker with a penchant for challenging the status quo. Check out his short story “Serenity.”