I remember comforting the girl who wore her heart on the sleeve she was crying on. Maybe the snot desecrating the American Apparel cuffs created itself when she broke up with her boyfriend again, or because she never had one in the first place, or because her GPA had tanked when her parents stopped talking to each other, or because, as she liked to flaunt, she was simply misunderstood.
One of those.
I remember sitting on my knees picking up baseball cards at nine p.m., carelessly thrown down by unruly kids in the tiny store. I listened to my coworkers talk about their problems as if to impress me with them as I sorted through the hundreds of cards and put them in their boxes. It was almost comical. Two people each wanting to be with their families cleaning up after little kids who were always with theirs.
And always in these situations as is usually the case, the same comments arise.
"Why are you always so happy?"
"Why are you working so hard?"
And of course, the usual assumption dropped in some way or another by almost everyone I've been around,
"I must just have it harder than you."
I'm sure you've had the same experiences. Perhaps you've had that friendly acquaintance go through a memorized list of trials and grievances.
My favorite is:
"I've just been through so much in my life I really don't give a f*** anymore," from the friend who enjoys talking about how hardened they are when you ever worry about something aloud.
People assume that when you carry a Bible to church each Lord's Day and smile quietly when everyone else is frowning, that you are simply living an easy life. A life of leisure that, because of their circumstances, they are prevented from living.
Unless praying with tears rolling down your cheeks at your child's funeral, at the hospital with your mama, at your awful job, or your latest bill can somehow cause trials to go away completely, then I can't follow the argument that Christians are simply dealt a better hand in life.
Smiling doesn't mean that there aren't trials. It just means that you don't want to share your burdens with people who are carrying enough of a load on their own.
In the words of my friend who works full time and goes to school and is rarely found with a frown or a spirit full of excitement and kindness, "It's nobody's business but my own."
What benefit is it to weep to somebody over your trials? It has never made sense to me. When you try to talk about how awful your family is, no matter how true it may be, you are hurting those in your family.
But why are Christians so often the ones smiling?
I once heard a pastor hear another pastor checking out in the store. The latter's cashier was smiling on a hectic work day late at night, and said, "You must be a Christian!"
When she asked why he thought so, he said it was because of her smile, despite the terrible working conditions. She smiled again and said she was.
Many Christians dislike their work. They sometimes hate it with a passion. Yet the people who work with them see their smiles and hear compliments and encouragement and wonder why.
It's unnatural, that's for sure. Because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that brings Christians comfort and joy when there seems no apparent reason for it.
The role model of the Christian is Jesus Christ and look what He did when he was persecuted: He prayed, He healed, He listened, and He encouraged. And then He died a horrible death and rose again on the third day for His people. He saved His people from their sins.
If anyone thinks he is having a bad day, know it's not as bad as the circumstances of Jesus Christ; an innocent man nailed to a tree for our sins.
The Spirit in the heart of the believer is the same Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It has given great joy to all people.
The fact, felt in the Christian's heart, that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," gives the Christian every reason to smile.
Yes, the Christian may indeed have it, by your standards, worse off than you even though no one will ever know.
But the Christian has Jesus, Who loves with the perfect love of God.
Do Christians have it easier?
Maybe not in a material sense. Christians throughout history have been butchered, have been hated, have been through earthly hell.
But none of that can separate them from the love of God.
With His Spirit, He holds them.
So yes, maybe in that sense, Christians have it easier after all.
