Making it look easy
If you squinthard you can see him. One of the things that made Oklahoma famous, that hawk making lazy circles in the sky. I took this picture in the Wichita mountains, and it seemed like I was almost eye-level with him. He hardly flapped his wings the whole time I saw him, drifting up and down on the thermal currents.
You can't see that wind blowing of course, but you can see how the hawk uses it to his advantage. When he properly uses what we can't see, then what we do see from him seems almost effortless. For the hawk flying is not about effort, but about using the power of nature.
Many people believe the Christian life is about effort. If you put in enough hard work, then you can get to heaven. The Christian life becomes all about work, effort, and trying hard. But that's not the picture that the Bible paints. The Bible tells us the Christian life is about living in the grace that God supplies for us. If we can earn our way to heaven, then we can earn our way out. But when we have salvation by grace through faith, then all we have to do is trust God to lift us up to his presence.
When we live fully in the grace that God has given for us, Christian life becomes easier in a sense. Not because our circumstances have changed and everything is great, but because we are living on the power of Christ within us. The grace of God is there for us not just to make our life look easy, but to lift us up in the heavenly places, so that we can someday live forever with Christ. Praise God for his mercies!
