Straight Through

I have recently acquired a copy of Eugene Peterson's The Message translation of the Bible. I wanted it for two reasons: 1, I already use NASB, which is the most word-for-word translation. And I'm pretty sure that the Message is the most thought-for-thought translation... so now I have both ends. 2, and I'll just be honest, the NASB's being word-for-word makes it a little hard to read through. It's great for small-section study, but recently, I've just been wanting to read the Bible through like a letter or book. So I figured the Message would be more readable.

I just got through the sermon on the mount, in Matthew. There's a part in 5:29 where (irk... I never thought I'd be saying this) I really like how The Message puts it. Jesus is talking about following Him, specifically dealing with lust, and says "Let's not pretend this is easier than it really is." He then goes on to give the people advice on dealing with said problem.

And I can dig that a lot. I always groan when someone says that they became a Christian, then all of a sudden, their life was perfect. They didn't struggle with sin any more, God was blessing them and sending them checks in the mail, and an angel started vacuuming the house for them. After being saved, we should have a hope, yes. But life will not get easier, and in all probability, it will be harder, because now you have another person in your life that you care about and don't want to hurt (IE, Jesus, whom you don't want to insult by sinning).

I suppose that is all. Life is hard. God is good. Thankfully, Jesus rescues us from this life. Yay!

-Philip