Land of 'no effort'

Who wants the prize without a fight?

While working out at my gym I heard an ad on the radio. It talked about a program that would have your 3-year old read like a 3rd grader in no time, no effort… really! It struck me as odd that the promise to accomplish a goal without effort would be attractive to anyone. Who wants the prize without the fight, the glory without the blood, sweat and tears? And yet, we seem to live in a land of ‘no effort’. Loose weight without a diet! Now, you can have a great body without exercise! Learn another language in no time! Well, you know what I mean…

I wonder, even if it would be possible to reach a goal without working for it, what would be the fun? Why would we even be tempted by promises that clearly go against Kingdom principles? Jesus said, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Every effort, right?! There is not even such a thing as little or half effort, let alone NO effort! The Bible goes on to say in Romans 14:19,

- Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification

- Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3)

- Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy (Hebr. 12:14)

Based on these scriptures I feel free to say that an effortless life is an ungodly life.
We can do nothing to earn our salvation, but we can do everything to make it a lifestyle!