Flowery Beds of Ease?

...How easy was it for Jesus Christ to go to the cross and die?

How easy was it for the Apostle Paul to live the life of sacrifice he lived?

How easy was it for Jeremiah to go into the pit?

How easy was it for Ezekiel to give up his wife to warn the children of Israel? That's what happened. His wife was taken from him in the hopes that the children of Israel would listen to him.

How easy was it for the patriarchs of faith that we read about in the Bible to carry the torch and do God's will?

How easy was it for our forefathers who we can read about now in the church history book, to do what they did in establishing churches?

How easy was it for Samuel Froehlich to be persecuted by the government? To be separated from his wife and his family for six or seven years?

How easy was it for our forefathers to be in prison in Europe?

How easy is it for the people behind the Communist Iron Curtain today?

Is it really the commission of a believer to look at those things which are easy? And make our decisions in spiritual things based on how easy they are? Or how convenient? Or how good they feel?

Can't you see the humanistic thinking that comes through in that? The humanistic thinking - that's really what it is - when we think of our own ease in comparison with the Word of God.
--Sermon Excerpt: Elder Bro. S.R.

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease;
While others sought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?
-Tabernacle Hymns