I don’t know how God wired you, but He wired me to love checking things off my “To Do List.” I will color code my list and create little check boxes to cross off my completed tasks. Tapping the screen on my phone to cross something off doesn’t give me the same thrill or sense of satisfaction as coloring my box in my bullet journal, showing what I’ve accomplished over the course of my day.
Here’s the deal. I love seeing my little check mark so much that I’ll do the easy stuff first so I can be proud all that I’ve done. Because, if I’m perfectly honest myself, I get my sense of worth from what I do during my waking hours.
Instead of knowing my security, my worth, comes from the Lord, I get it from my “To Do List.” God may only want me to accomplish one thing in a day, but instead I hurry through my list so I can show no one but myself what I’ve done.
The name of the series is Stop Doubting and Start Doing, but we can also be doing the wrong things. We could be doing everything in our own power rather than trusting God to make it happen. This doesn’t absolve me from doing my part, however, sometimes that means doing the tough stuff first.
Decide your most productive time of day is. For me, it’s first thing in the morning. I know if I have a tough file going to hearing or an important decision to make, is important for me to complete it earlier in the day.
Otherwise I sit and stew on it. When I stew on it, the task takes on a life of its own. It becomes bigger and bigger to the point where I don’t believe I can do it anymore. Instead, if I had done the tough stuff first, I could have gone on to the easy stuff as my willpower waned throughout the day.
In order to get the tough stuff done, we need to know what God wants us doing in the first place. Does He want us even going down this rabbit hole? What if it becomes too difficult to get the tough stuff done? Does this mean we’re on the wrong bunny trail?
Actually it could mean we’re on the right road. God never said life would be easy but he did say he had overcome the world and we are to take heart. In John 16:33, (NIV) is says, “‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’”
What does this have to do with getting things done? Everything.
We may think we are spinning our wheels and our days aren’t going perfectly, but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a purpose in the imperfections. He wants us to rely on Him. If the tough stuff for easy, first it wouldn’t be called tough and second you wouldn’t need God.
We are to rely on God consistently and constantly.
He wants to help us tackle or “To Do List”, however, He wants to be our partner. Actually, He wants to be more than our partner. He wants to be our Deliverer, our Redeemer, and our Savior. He’s the one who’s there when the chips are down and everyone else has abandoned us because He knows.
He knows what it’s like to slash through the tough stuff. He knows what it’s like when you’re praised one week, then crucified and abandoned the next. He had His closest friend and disciple reject Him three times. Most of the time we only get rejected once and that’s enough for our heart to break. The rejection is enough to throw the “To Do List” and the tough stuff we’re being called to do out the window.
This is exactly what the world wants and the enemy is striving for. He wants us to keep doubting and stop doing. He doesn’t want the light you bring to the world shining in the darkness. God has created you for something amazing and unique. Do not dim your light because the stuff God is calling you to do is tough.
Rise up.
Fight to get the tough stuff done and let go of the little things that don’t matter to your dream or your calling.
What do you need to rise up against to get the tough stuff done? Share it in the comments below to encourage others.