Not a cakewalk indeed

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Whoever told you that this Christian lifestyle was going to be a cakewalk was pulling the wool over your eyes! It is easier at first, but at some point, it actually gets a bit harder to continue in our growth. It is not always easy following the instructions laid out for us in God's Word, maybe because we see so many others just observing those words when it feels good to them and ignoring them at other times. Obedience is definitely not situational, and it is not a thing we 'show off' when others are watching and ignore when they are not. 

Work hard to show the results of your salvation. That very statement suggests there may be more than a bit of work involved in making different choices in life. Lifestyle changes are hard, but when they begin with a proper respect for God's authority in our lives, the changes get easier over time. God's instructions are based on his authority, so we cannot ignore them and expect lifestyle changes. We actually learn more each time we 'mull over' his instruction to us. 

God works 'in us' to give us the desire to live by his commands. Whatever it is that pleases our 'self-man' is in direction opposition to what it is that pleases our new nature in Christ Jesus. The power to live right and to make right choices comes from God, but our self-man would 'override' all the right choices God desires if all we used was our own feeble 'willpower'. To be honest here, our 'willpower' is really not very 'powerful' at all. As we slow life down a bit, we might actually realize that we have been trying to change our actions by our own willpower and not tapping into the strength and ability that comes when we heed the instruction God gives in his Word.

I hesitate to say something that is obvious, but obedience is learned behavior. Just as sinfulness became a learned behavior, righteousness only overrides that 'poor behavior' when we repeat those instructions over and over again. If you haven't figured it out yet, it isn't always our 'self-man' that is choosing the right behavior. At times, it is the Spirit of God working against our self-will that is helping us make those better choices. Just sayin!