Anything worth doing is hard.
There are times in life where God calls us to do hard things. I am not writing to define what your hard things are. I know that life is full of hard things.
Peter, of Jesus' disciples, had to do a hard thing just fifty days after he denied Jesus.
It seemed easy for him that day.
On the day of Pentecost he did a hard thing.
He stood up.
He raised his voice.
He addressed the crowd.
Where was the timid and fear-filled Peter of fifty days ago? Did he come out of hiding once the enemy authorities retreated?
Did Peter stand up by himself? Read Acts 2:14.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter said no. He said, "Not this time!" Peter took a stand and said no to fear.
When you think about it....fear is what gets in the way of change. Fear paralyzes. Fear captures our hearts into thinking we can't change. Fear binds our minds into longing for easy things.
Every day presents opportunities to do hard things. And every day brings opportunities to change. The problem is that we are sold out to comfort, fear, and our failures.
I think I can't change, and fear loves to remind me of my failures.
Today, I am standing up and telling fear in the face that I will not be devoted to it anymore.
To make changes, you have to do just that. Do hard things. We want what comes easy.
We want comfort, we want things our way.
We want what is comfortable.
I want to say "no" to wanting. I want to change to make the hard things the way things are.
Will anyone stand up with me?
I promise I will fail you. I promise to be devoted to truth. I promise that fear will come. But when...
....fear comes, when failures remind me that I am not perfect, when hard things have to be done, I will stand.
Standing up for truth and righteousness is the highest calling. I want to be like Peter in the hard days, in my weak days. In my weekdays.
I want to say "no" to wanting the easy life. I want to say "no" to doing things the easy way.
I want to live this life that is brimming with fearful opportunities with boldness. Like Peter.
On that one day, he stood. I am standing on the promises of God.
It's a hard thing but may I always say yes to it. Always. Even when.... I want to give up on change.
