“He’s set in his ways.” This phrase is often said about men of a certain age, a polite way of saying that one is stubborn. But if we change the possessive pronoun “his” from the subject of the sentence to instead, another person, Jesus Christ, the phrase takes on a whole new meaning.

“‘Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.’” (Luke 12:21)

We are to be Christ’s representatives so let’s be sure we send a clear message, not mixed signals.

“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” (Psalms 34:19)

God has given us all instructions to follow throughout Scripture, and we don’t always do a good job of following them. When we don’t, it can look like the football player who doesn’t follow the playbook: things go wrong, and it all looks like a mess.

There is a reason that Christianity stands the test of time and persecution.

“Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?’”

As we read through the Scriptures, and as we put them into practice by following Jesus and obeying his commands, we find a lot of his commands are like this: not easy and don’t make sense initially.