"I never said it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it." One of those ubiquitous sayings, the likes of which I can't like.
One young man stood up in church recently and credited Jesus with that very statement.
I squirmed, but I did not say, "Oh, really. Can you give me chapter and verse on that? Was that before or after he said 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light'? or 'And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me'? or any of a number of things actually attributed to Christ in the scriptures?"
No, I did not say it. But I thought someone should warn the young man--actually, he's a full-time missionary--that he needs to be aware that he may encounter some people who know Jesus did not say that thing. It's not part of his gospel, not doctrine. It's just one of this day's "feel good" bunches of words that probably came from some motivational speaker trying to sell his books and DVDs.
And so on and so forth.
This week's Weight Watcher's meeting brought the saying to me again. "You know what we always say," said our meeting leader, "I never said it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it." This time I didn't squirm, but I did sigh. More tolerable in such a setting, and at least she didn't attribute it to Jesus. I suppose I can apply the saying to "dieting" and say, "Well, okay."
But, truthfully, I still hate it in any setting. I find its succinct trivialization of everything in our lives intolerable. Yes, I do.
Chapter and verse for my citations: Matthew 11:29-30; 10:38.
One young man stood up in church recently and credited Jesus with that very statement.
I squirmed, but I did not say, "Oh, really. Can you give me chapter and verse on that? Was that before or after he said 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light'? or 'And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me'? or any of a number of things actually attributed to Christ in the scriptures?"
No, I did not say it. But I thought someone should warn the young man--actually, he's a full-time missionary--that he needs to be aware that he may encounter some people who know Jesus did not say that thing. It's not part of his gospel, not doctrine. It's just one of this day's "feel good" bunches of words that probably came from some motivational speaker trying to sell his books and DVDs.
And so on and so forth.
This week's Weight Watcher's meeting brought the saying to me again. "You know what we always say," said our meeting leader, "I never said it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it." This time I didn't squirm, but I did sigh. More tolerable in such a setting, and at least she didn't attribute it to Jesus. I suppose I can apply the saying to "dieting" and say, "Well, okay."
But, truthfully, I still hate it in any setting. I find its succinct trivialization of everything in our lives intolerable. Yes, I do.
Chapter and verse for my citations: Matthew 11:29-30; 10:38.
1 comment:
Hurrah. I hate it too.
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