Shouldn’t Life Be Easier?

February 27th, 2007

Even if you don’t know much about American history, you’re no doubt familiar with the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and the fierce national battle over slavery which prompted the Civil War. It was during the Lincoln presidency that the first permanent steps were taken to abolish slavery, and end a fight which had been raging for decades.

However, before Abraham Lincoln took the office of president, another man occupied the White House. He was a man from Wheatland, Pennsylvania, and our fifteenth president, Mr. James Buchanan.

Buchanan had been elected president after serving terms overseas as minister to Russia and Great Britain. Therefore, he had been unaware of much of the great debate which had been bubbling over the issue of slavery. Much of Buchanan’s presidential shortcomings came from the fact that he thought it was a much smaller issue than it indeed was. He had even been quoted as calling the debate over slavery “a matter of but little practical importance.”

Later in Buchanan’s presidency, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had no power according to the Constitution to ban slavery from the colonies. When this decision was passed, Buchanan was quoted as saying that he believed the slavery issue had been resolved “speedily and finally.” Little did he know that it was an issue that would continue for years and years to come.

When Buchanan finally left the White House, turning the presidency over to Abraham Lincoln, he told Mr. Lincoln, If you are as happy on entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a very happy man indeed.”

Obviously, taking on the responsibility of president of the United States was not as easy a task as Buchanan had first imagined.

Have you ever thought that life was supposed to be easier? Perhaps when you finished school and moved out on your own, you expected that life wouldn’t be as difficult for you as it once was. Perhaps you felt things would be easier when you retired. Most of the time however, we find that life, no matter where you are in it, isn’t always easy.

Sometimes we feel the same thing about the Christian life as well. We get this notion in our heads that once we give our lives over to Christ, things will simply be a bowl of cherries, and our worries will disappear. If that happens for Christians, I’m still waiting.

The truth is, no one ever promised that life would be easy. In fact, when Jesus was preparing to leave his disciples, he told them just the opposite. In John 16:33 he said, “In this world you will have trouble.” That’s quite a promise right there. Jesus knew that life would not always be easy.

However, his message for his disciples did not stop there. He went on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The truth is, life may never be easy, but we can have peace. And, our peace does not come in knowing that our lives will someday become easier. Instead, we will find true peace only when we give our lives over to the one who has overcome the world!

Entry Filed under: Will's Blog