Fun, Fast and Easy!

I went through the "Self-checkout" line at Walmart last night. When I got home, I looked at the receipt and saw this message: "Fun, Fast and Easy." It was, of course, referring to the process of the self-checkout. This is, however, a message by which many modern "self-absorbed" Americans live. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it! We don't have enough time if it isn't fast. And we surely aren't going to get involved in anything that isn't easy! When we compare this mindset to what God is calling us to know, be, and do in this world, we see a complete reversal. Life is not easy and sometimes it isn't fun! The only one of the three that might apply is that life is fast!
Sometimes God calls us to the hard things on our journey. He calls us to suffering; He calls us to aloneness; He calls us to grief; He calls us to poverty; He calls us to sacrifice. None of these are "fun, fast and easy"! But they all build our character and help to make us more like the Master.