It's Good to Do Hard Things

Is this why Catholicism is trending these days?

Today, I saw a clip from a YouTube lecture by Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church in Dallas, TX. The (supposedly true) story he tells in the video made quite an impact on me.

In the 1960s, recruiters from the four branches of the military show up at a college campus and give their pitches to the students.

The Army guy says, “You can get on the G.I. bill, your college is going to be free, Uncle Sam will pay for it, it’ll be awesome, join the Army.”

The Navy lady says, “You’re going to learn great job skills, you’ll have career advancement opportunities, you’ll be on ships and fly airplanes, so you should join the Navy.”

The Air Force guy says, “You’re going to fly super-cool jets, you can work on engines, you can retire early and make a ton of money, so join the Air Force.”

The scarred, scary-looking guy from the Marines gets up and says nothing for sixty seconds—just looks around and makes eye contact with everyone in the room. Then he says,

“Ladies and gentlemen, I was asked today to recruit potential Marines, but from the looks of this audience, I think it is a waste of my time and yours. I know that you expect me to tell you that if you join the Marines, you’re going to love it too. You expect me to tell you about career advancement opportunities and early retirement and lots of job skills that you can put into practice in the private sector.

But I’m not going to tell you any of that because it’s probably not going to be true if you join the Marines.

If you join the Marines, you’re going to hate it. If you join the Marines, you’re going to curse the day you were born. You’ll be mad at God for making your Mom and mad at your Mom for giving birth to you. You’ll go to bed hungry and cold and thirsty. You’ll be shot at. Some of you will be hit by live ammunition. Some of you will be killed in the line of duty because when you join the Marine Corps, you’re the first ones in, you’re the last ones out.

But I’m wasting your time and I’m wasting mine, because I’ve looked over this crowd… and I don’t see a single person who has what it takes to be in the United States Marine Corps. Forgive me for wasting your time. Good day.”

Afterwards, there’s a handful of people at each of the recruitment tables, but the line to sign up for the Marines goes out the door.

So what’s the moral of this story?

“What people really want,” says Pastor Josh, “more than an easy button for their life, is they want a mission worth living for and dying for.”

He says,

“When Jesus Christ came to this earth, he didn’t lower the bar and he didn’t dumb it down. His message was essentially, ‘Come die with me if you want to be one of my disciples.’

He says that’s what they’re aiming to do at Lakepointe Church: to be true disciples.

I think this was at least one of the reasons I decided to become a Catholic, even if I couldn’t have articulated it back then:

Because it will cost you something.

It’s not that wishy-washy type of Christianity that promises everything and asks nothing. Being a Catholic is HARD.

Nothing irks me more than those folks who believe they can say a little prayer one time in their life and be saved once and for all—in other words, be guaranteed Heaven.

“Well, Jesus died for my sins, and I just said I accept Him as my Lord and Savior. So I’m all set and can keep living my life.”

And I want to smack them around a little bit and say: How DARE you cheapen His sacrifice by pretending you don’t have to do anything? Go watch The Passion of the Christ, and then come back and tell me again how nothing is required of you.

If you want to do this Christianity thing right, you better shape up—because you’re not on easy street anymore, buddy. That’s kind of what Jesus meant when he said this:

As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

(Luke 9:57-62)

Jesus never said, “Tell you what, I’ll be dying for you, and then you’re good to go, homie.”

Not only does He want something from you.

He wants EVERYTHING.

He doesn’t just want you to love Him and obey Him. He wants you to love Him more than anything or anyone else:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

(Matthew 10:37)

He wants you to stop focusing on worldly things:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

(1 John 2:15-17)

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

(John 15:18-19)

He wants you to join your suffering to His:

But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

(1 Peter 4:13)

It seems to me that Catholics know these facts better than many (not all) Protestants. Obviously, Pastor Josh and his church are a prime example for not-watered-down, not-dumbed-down Christianity. So are the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.

For instance, I like that the Catholic Church doesn’t make it super-easy to join. You can’t just walk in and become a member; it takes actual work. You have to attend weekly OCIA classes for six or seven months to learn about the Catholic faith.

And once you are a Catholic, you can’t go to Mass whenever you feel like it. Once a week is required, or you’re in a state of mortal sin, which in turn requires that you go to confession before receiving the Eucharist again.

Fasting is a must on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and you should abstain from meat every Friday during Lent. Before receiving Holy Communion, you need to fast for at least one hour. But I still know tons of Catholics who abstain from meat every Friday of the year and keep a twelve-hour fast before receiving Holy Communion.

Catholicism asks you to do lots of hard things:

• If you’re single, you are expected to live a chaste life. That means you can’t have sex; that includes masturbation and watching porn, which both are grave sins.

• If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, you can’t live with him/her or have sex with him/her until you’re married.

• If you’re homosexual, you can’t act out your same-sex attraction.

• If you’re a married couple, you should still practice chastity within the marriage.

• Contraception and abortion are forbidden, so you can either use natural birth control by timing ovulation or simply let God’s will be done.

• IVF is forbidden, so if you can’t conceive, your options are to accept childlessness or to adopt a child.

• During Lenten season (forty days), you are expected to make some kind of sacrifice—either give something up (sweets, coffee, social media, TV, etc.) or add something (prayers, novenas, exercise, volunteer work, etc.). Almsgiving beyond the normal amount is also expected.

Honestly, I think this is one reason why over 100,000 Americans joined the Catholic Church this year… and over a million worldwide.

And there is always more.

If you want to kick it up a notch, you can…

• Go to daily Mass.

• Add more prayers.

• Read more Scripture, practice Lectio Divina, read books by and about the Great Saints.

• Volunteer at your parish or find your own way to do good.

• Bequeath your assets to the Church.

• Say the Morning and Evening Prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours every day.

• Join one of the Third Orders. Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, Benedictines, and many other orders have lay versions.

It’s good to be a Catholic! :)

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