We do not come to Christ because He promises an easier road, nor because He adorns our hands with the glittering prizes of this passing world. We come because He bids us take up a cross before He speaks of a crown. The Christian faith is not an escape from suffering but an invitation to die to the self that clings so desperately to comfort and applause. If we seek only what is pleasant, we shall soon abandon Him; but if we have seen that He alone is Truth, then even the hardest path becomes worth walking. It is precisely because Christ asks for everything that He is worthy of our trust, for only the One who leads us through death can also lead us into everlasting life.