Impossible, Hard, and Easy
The Christian life and ministry have something in common. Both are impossible, hard, and easy at the same time.
The Christian life is impossible. Nobody can bring about the kind of transformation needed. No amount of self-effort will bring about the kind of change that a dead heart needs to come alive, or that a young life takes to mature. We rely on God’s help, or it will never happen.
It’s not just impossible, but it’s hard. Growing in our faith requires discipline and effort. That’s why the Christian life is so often compared to an athletic contest. You don’t coast your way to growth; you have to work at it.
But because it’s not up to us, we experience a power that’s not our own. Growth just happens as we abide in our Savior. He produces characteristics in our life that we could never produce on our own. He does the work; we have a role to play, and it’s hard, but we could never produce the kind of life that can come only by the Spirit. That’s why Scripture also talks about putting on the new man like we put on clothes. We don’t make the clothes; he does. We just put on what God has already done for us.
The Christian life is impossible; God must do it. Christian growth is hard; we must discipline ourselves. The Christian life is easy; we take advantage of the work that God is doing and appropriate it for ourselves.
The same thing is true in Christian ministry.
I don’t know of a more impossible job. No human is up to the task. We dabble in matters much too holy for us to handle. No mere human can transform others or produce spiritual life. No mere human can adequately handle holy things. It’s impossible.
It’s also hard. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul emphasizes how hard it will be, and then tells Timothy to think about it. Christian ministry will require everything you have and more.
But it’s also easy. Martin Luther put it best:
I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philipp and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. … I did nothing; I let the Word do its work. What do you suppose is Satan’s thought when one tries to do the thing by kicking up a row? He sits back in hell and thinks: Oh, what a fine game the poor fools are up to now! But when we spread the Word alone and let it alone do the work, that distresses him. For it is almighty, and takes captive the hearts, and when the hearts are captured the work will fall of itself.
Some parts are impossible. Some parts are hard. And some parts are easy because God does all the work.
All of this brings a great humility to us. None of it is possible without God. But praise God who make the impossible possible, who empowers us to do what’s hard, and who produces fruit apart from what we could ever produce. What a gracious God, and what a profound mystery.
