The Most Difficult is the Easiest

In his classic book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes,

“Teachers will tell you that the laziest boy in the class is the one who works hardest in the end. They mean this. If you give two boys, say, a proposition in geometry to do, the one who is prepared to take trouble will try to understand it. The lazy boy will try to learn it by heart because, for the moment, that needs less effort. But six months later, when they are preparing for an exam, the lazy boy is doing hours and hours of miserable drudgery over things the other boy understands, and positively enjoys, in a few minutes. Laziness means more work in the long run.

Or look at it this way. In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; but it is also, in the long run, the safest thing to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing.

It is like that here. The terrible thing, the most impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to (Jesus) Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ‘ourselves’, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be ‘good.’ We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way – centered on money or pleasure or ambition – and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper that the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.

Indeed, the most difficult (giving and surrender our life to Jesus) is the easiest.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Don’t be lazy! Get a Book and Start Reading

“From your parents you learn love and laughter and
how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover
that you have wings.” (Helen Hayes with Sandford Dody, On Reflection)
“Books may well be the only true magic.” (Alice Hoffman)

Books are one of the most important things in the world of mankind, this I believe. Good books of course, are not mere papers, ink and glue but a breathing-thing that can bring life to its reader. Since I love books, I couldn’t get away with it. My day is not complete without reading words printed in wood smell papers. ‘I cannot live without books’, writes Thomas Jefferson, and so do I.

Come to think about it, God of universe is also a God of communication and words, and one of His chief tools to tell us about Himself who is beyond us is through the Bible; that is God’s written Word in human language. The Bible is a primary way that the Holy Spirit opens us up to the God who is Above-All. God is still speaking and guiding us personally and intimately through the Word. God use Book to communicate to us. Therefore, reading the Bible is primary than any other books. Period.

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Here I want to offer you 3 of my precious books for the month of June for free because I also believe that God does use books (and people) to speak to us as well (though I believe it is secondary mediums compare to the Bible). These books are secondhand if you don’t mind but still in good condition, I promise you. I believe (and pray) that it will brings hope and inspiration for you to experience Christ in someone else’s stories thru the writer's many years of journey with God.

‘Every man who knows how to read,’ said Aldous Huxley, ‘has it in his power to magnified, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting’ – this I can assure you. So don’t just sit on that lazy-spirited chair; transform it into inspire-spirited chair. Get a good book and start reading!

THINK BIG.START SMALL.GO DEEP.

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June 2012 FREE Book

I’m giving away ONLY 3 books by Max Lucado;

1) Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

2) Facing Your Giants: A David and Goliath Story for Everyday People

3) Six Hours One Friday: Living the Power of the Cross

If you never receive any book from Motivates4Life before, you are welcome to get a copy for yourself. Do these 2 things:

1. Comment below “Rich, give me one copy_(Book number)_(Your name).”
2. Then, E-mail me at Motivates4life@hotmail.com or send a message to my Facebook your real name, phone no. and your postal address.
3. That’s all. Thank you.

The Only Easy Place for Lazy People is in the Grave

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.
No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow
what you can do today. (Lord Chesterfield)

“Wow! Your room is a mess!” I said to my friend who stayed in campus hostel during my ‘surprise’ visit one day.  

“Look at all these clothes,” I complained while my finger running through his items that were hanging likes a spider’s web.

In a fast-mode he replied, “Oh, I have no time to wash it all man.”

[He lied! He played video games roughly 8 to 10 hours per day]

“Then, what if you have no other clothes to wear?” I puzzled.

He said, “Well, I just spray perfume… should be fine.”

Lazy man!

“Bro, I heard about your poor grade last semester… how’s your study man?” I asked. That was the reason I want to meet him at the first place. Do you know what his respond was?

“I’m a smart person actually,” he proudly said it to my face, “but I don’t want to study. I don’t have mood and all. I just copy or Photostat my classmate’s notes… easier that way. ” By then, I already conclude that he was one hell of a lazy-pig! All he wants in life is ‘easy job’! Lazy man!

I read a story by Roy B. Zuck’s The Speaker’s Quote Book about a student once wrote to the famous preacher Hendry Ward Beecher, asking him how to obtain “an easy job”. Mr. Beecher replied,

“If that’s your attitude, you’ll never amount to anything. You cannot be an editor or become a lawyer or think of entering the ministry. None of these professions is easy. You will have to forget the fields of merchandising and shipping, abhor the practice of politics, and forget about the difficult field of medicine. To be a farmer or even a good soldier, you must study and think. My son, you have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is in the grave.”

Yes, the grave is the ONLY easy place for lazy people. King Solomon once said, “The lazy man won't go out and work. ‘There might be a lion outside!’ he says. He sticks to his bed like a door to its hinges! He is too tired even to lift his food from his dish to his mouth! Yet in his own opinion he is smarter than seven wise men.”(Proverbs 26:13-16)

THINK BIG Don’t be lazy in your studies (especially in the study of the Word of God) and in your vocations or in whatever that are worth you energy, time and resources. Bob Jones writes, “God will not do for you what He has given you strength to do for yourself.” START SMALL Whenever you recognized the spirit of laziness in you, pray about it and get over it. GO DEEP God hate lazy people. In fact, laziness is sin (e.g. Proverbs 20:4, Proverbs 26:13-16 etc.). The Bible promises no loaves to the loafer... contemplate on it.