I don’t know where I first heard the expression, but I am sure it was on TV or in a movie.

Imagine cops walking into a bar to arrest a suspect, and they say, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” What they mean is that the suspect can get up and walk out quietly, or they can beat them into submission and drag them out against their will.

There are two ways to make decisions. We can choose the path of least resistance, or we can take the one with the most resistance.

Being a follower of Jesus means that we have chosen both the easy way and the hard way.

Sometimes, choices are clear-cut and require little thought, effort, or impact. If you are asked to lie, you simply respond with a “No.” Easy decision, limited resistance, and you don’t have to remember the lies you told.

Sometimes, the same choice is not so clear-cut and can make your life more difficult. If your boss asks you to lie about some numbers so that everyone gets their bonus, the decision gets more complicated. I know people who have lost business, friends, and respect because they chose the hard way.

I wish I could tell you that following Jesus is always the easy way and it leads to your best life now, but that is not true. Sometimes your choices as a believer will result in your life becoming more difficult.

Choosing to follow Jesus means that we do not make choices based on ease or comfort, but rather, they are based solely on His word and will. We can only control our actions, not how other people respond to them, and sometimes that makes life easy, and at other times, hard.