It’s been less than a week since we ushered in Easter and praised God for conquering death so we would be guaranteed eternal life. How’s that working for you? How soon we forget the glorious message of hope and promise. Life somehow gets in the way, doesn’t it?

We soon lose the afterglow of Easter, because of those unexpected challenges. Maybe your car breaks down, or worse yet, you are involved in a costly accident. Maybe you stumble and break a bone. You might find yourself in a hospital bed fighting for your life. You get news that someone you love has passed away. You lose your job. A relationship is bitterly ended. You may have a series of unwanted events that pop up one after the other. Those little incidents begin to eat away at your savings and suddenly you’re overwhelmed.

Life was never guaranteed to be perfect. Jesus never made any claims to eliminate all our earthly problems. He never promised a rose garden or one without weeds. He wasn’t commissioned to take on the weight of the sin of the world, in order to make our lives a piece of cake. Remember, He said His kingdom was not of this world. Jesus purpose was to make us right with His Father again – sinless and prepared for eternal life.

So, does that mean we’re going to sail through the rest of our lives with no problems? Does it mean that because Jesus paid the price, we don’t have any obligation to being thankful and expressing it through how we treat others? Certainly Jesus paid for all the sins of every man. He also gives us the free will to decide whether we believe He did so. Nothing WE could’ve done would’ve been sufficient.

So do we simply put on a happy face and accept all our earthly problems? Most people would think we were a little crazy if we walked around with a smile on our face all the time. Of course no one would know if we were smiling right now anyway. Do you simply give up or do you keep plugging away, because you might make a difference in another person’s life? I personally prefer to think that God has allowed me to hang around for these extra years for a reason. He will lead me through them.

Life goes on until we die and then it goes on in a much better place. We have that promise from God Himself.