Do Hard Things…

Do Hard Things. This is a statement I’ve shared hundreds if not thousands of times with countless players, teams, and even my own family. It’s a simple challenge. Be willing to get out of your comfort zone, be willing to work, be willing to fail and get back up, be willing to grow. Ok, so maybe it’s a simple “sounding” challenge.

 The truth is most of us purse a life of comfort. We want comfortable homes, cars, careers, relationships, and the list goes on. I’m as guilty of this pursuit of comfort as much as anyone. Just an hour ago, I was on the phone setting up a time to have the air conditioner in our home repaired. It broke last night. This is not an Oregon Trail, covered wagon situation. Furthermore, the weather in Alabama right now may be the most conducive to sleeping with the windows open as it has, or will ever be.

Don’t misunderstand where I am headed with this. I do not believe we should totally shed off all of our modern comforts. We should certainly not forget to be extremely thankful for them. The danger is becoming so comfortable that we grow stagnant. When our comfort turns stagnant at work, we make mistakes and miss opportunities to grow. When our relationships become too comfortable we tend to stop communicating, stop pursuing, and taking those around us for granted. Here’s the hardest part. The only way to learn to get back up, is to fall. Any parent who has watched their child learn to walk knows this first hand. It is not fun watching your toddler bounce off and crash into seemingly every obstacle around them but the more they fall the quicker they get up. The more times they get up, the fewer times they fall.

This truth is most evident in our faith. Jesus made it clear that the cost of following Him was high. Luke 9:23-24 (NIV) states “And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Later on in this chapter of Luke we see two examples of those who claim to want to follow Jesus but aren’t willing to do the uncomfortable things required to do so. Jesus clearly tells us there is a cost to following him. It will often cost us our personal comfort to do so at the minimum, but for others it may be even more.

The best news here is that just as Christ warns us of the uncomfortable nature of following Him, he assures us that we will be right beside us along the way. No other person or entity however strong or great can offer this assurance. As I challenge my sons to “Do Hard Things” it is with the assurance that I’ll be there to help for as long as I am here and able, but the truth is I won’t always be here and able. Christ will.

At the time of writing we are two days from Good Friday, and four from Easter Sunday. There is no greater example of doing hard things than what Christ did on a cross for us. Not only did he bear the physical agony of imprisonment, torture, and death; he felt the weight of each of our sins and ultimately the just wrath of God as punishment. And even if that wasn’t enough, he conquered death three days later. No burden left uncarried, no enemy left undefeated, just the completion of the hardest thing imaginable. And here is the most amazing part. He didn’t do it for himself. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

My point in writing this week is three-fold. Number one, don’t be ashamed of your comforts. Count them as blessings, but use them to help bring others to Christ not as a crutch or shield. Number two, when you’re facing these inevitable challenges remember that Christ is with you, and for you so long as you seek and walk in his will. Finally number three, to challenge myself (and you too), to do hard things. Deny yourself, share God’s love and what Christ has done with those around you, be nice to folks (even the ones you don’t like), fall and get back up, give God the glory when you do.

In Christ,

Phil Johnson

Founder J23 Ministries