Soft

Hard times produce hard people. Pioneer settlers worked hard to cut out homesteads out of the wilderness and prairies. By the sweat of their brow they cleared the land, cut their own timber, built their own homes, raised their own livestock and crops and hunted for what else they needed. Meals were hard to prepare by scratch. Traveling was hard by horse or horse drawn wagon. Very little was easy in those days.

Veterans fought hard battles to preserve freedom. They slept in sorry conditions. They slept little and marched much. They saw and witnessed things they have never talked about. Those hard times made them hard. They are as tough as boot leather. I wonder if they look on a soft lazy generation of youngsters in disgust and disbelief.

Contrast that with our soft society. Instead of raising our own crops we go down to the grocery store and get a meal in a can or microwavable meal to be zapped. Easy peasy. We reward laziness when our kids do nothing productive and yet have everything and more they could ever want. Parents justify it by wanting them to have it better than they had it growing up. Some summer sleepy head youths slumber until the afternoon after staying up all night binge watching something on Net Flix or their phones. When asked to do a simple job like clean their rooms or take out the trash they balk and talkback.

Others stay up all night playing Call Of Duty or Fort Night. They live in a fantasy world where if they get shot and killed in the game they just start over. That is not the case on the battlefield. Real bullets create real wounds and real fatalities. There are no do overs. In war you don't just get to turn the game off and walk away.

In our soft society everybody gets a trophy. Competition is frowned on because there are no winners and losers they say. Everybody is a winner. Try telling that to the person who gets passed over for a job time and time again and bills mount up while they are unemployed. Try telling that to the persons who work so hard in medical school but can't pass the grades and fail in their dream of becoming a physician. Try telling that to the children who's parents are getting divorced. Try telling that to the victims of fraud. Try telling that to the family who lost a loved one tragically and unexpectedly. They suffer loss.

Lastly, consider those early followers of Jesus. They were not soft. They were hard. Not hard hearted but hard and firm in their resolve. They withstood opposition and persecution. Millions still do today. They have learned their lessons well from saints who have gone on before. Many serve Christ in hard conditions. They are hated. Despised. Rejected. Ridiculed. Yet they serve with a rock hard undeterred faith. They resolutely resist the evil one.

I write in plush climate controlled conditions on a computer. Paul wrote from prison on parchment with a pen and ink. Not a fountain pen mind you. Paul did not softly follow Jesus. He followed hard.

I pray we do not fall victim to a soft society. Just two nights ago our electricity went out about 1:00 a.m. I awoke about thirty minutes later aware the ceiling fan no longer blew cool air on me. I kicked the sheets off and lay there. I did not sleep soundly the rest of the night. The electricity still had not come back before we left the house for our worship gathering. I thought about how spoiled and soft I am thinking I have to have a/c. I wondered what happen if something happened and the electricity went out for everyone and grocery stores were emptied in hours. How would we make it? As I write this in my camp cabin the cold air blows making my accommodations comfortable. I've read about old time camps where people showed up and pitched tents for one or two weeks at a time. Where the worship gatherings were held outdoors under open air or under a tabernacle. Can you imagine that today? How many would show up for that camp meeting?

What will this soft generation of Christians do when the hard times come? Will we quit? Will we easily lose heart? Will we  compromise when the persecution arises? May God strengthen with hard resolve for the hard times ahead.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV)
58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.