It’s All Hard. Get Over It.

I heard a quote on a movie once that said, “There are no easy answers. All we have are hard choices.” I think that quote is exponentially important to adopt as pastors and Christians. It is easy to fall into the idea that because it’s God’s church (or your life is dedicated to God), that surely everything will just fall into place and be covered in roses and good thoughts, without us having to do anything at all. I think we just want all of our problems and issues to be whisked away in the grace of God, yet we are quick to preach to others that it’s the journey of making decisions and stepping out on faith that grows us.

The one thing that I could say about starting a church is that every turn was FULL of hard choices. Even the REALLY fun things, like quick growth, lives changed, and a thriving youth ministry is just chocked full of hard decisions. Success brings just as many hard decisions as failure, so we all might as well not be frozen by that reality and just make the hard calls when needed.

Ignoring issues because they require difficult decisions doesn’t help anything…in fact, it will just create a litany of new choices to make. I often picture God saying, “Just choose the best you know how and I’ll bless it, but don’t sit there because you’re afraid of living on the edge of faith.”

And once we make the decision, it amazes me how much easier the rest of the journey is. The hardest part is always jumping off the cliff of indecision…the rest is remarkably invigorating.

I’m not sure if I’m preaching to you today or if I’m preaching to myself…maybe both…but for what it’s worth – Jump.