I wake up at 7 am to a full sink of dishes and laundry overflowing. I groan and just want to go back to sleep. I don’t want to start a new day, don’t want to do the right thing. I just want to shut out the world. Can I take the easy way out? Sometimes it’s so much easier to turn away.
Do you feel this way?
When I first heard about The Rebelution and hopped on board, I was super excited. I loved Alex and Brett’s book, and I just knew I wanted to be a rebelutionary. It all sounded so good. Then, I really started trying to do it, trying to fight the fight. Every time I failed, I gritted my teeth and just kept trying harder. It was so stressful, but over time I embraced it.
Do you ever feel like giving up? Like it’s just not worth it? I look at things and think, what’s the easiest way out of this? The easy way most of the time isn’t the best way. The reason we feel this way is because we didn’t start out with the right attitude in the first place. And I’m here to correct that for myself and for all those other rebelutionaries who feel the same way.
The Right Attitude
Sometimes if we don’t start out with the right attitude in the first place, our work ends up twisted. Maybe we do the work, but when we don’t get the praise we deserve, we feel unfulfilled or grumpy. So then, the next time a choice comes, it might feel easier to give up instead of feeling unfulfilled.
The truth is we aren’t supposed to get the recognition. We aren’t supposed to get praise, and furthermore we don’t deserve it. We fail, and we aren’t perfect. So why should we think we deserve praise for our work?
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)
We must do our hard things for the praise of God and for his glory. Not for our own praise, appreciation, glory, or recognition.
Not only that, but we fail, and being a work led person, I get so mad at myself. If I could only grit my teeth and just keep trying harder. Maybe I could somehow be a better person. But no, God never said that we’re on our own after he saves us. He never leaves us. No, he gave us an important gift, second only to salvation—the Holy Spirit.
God knows we’ll fail. He gives us grace when we fall, when we give up or flop. He gives us grace and forgives us even when I can’t forgive myself. And, He sends a helper in the Holy Spirit. He fills us and allows us to see that we have everything we need in Christ.
The Holy Spirit shows us that our work isn’t a have to, it’s a get to. Jesus perfectly illustrated this principle in his life. He never did anything halfway. He always saw his work as a get to, not a have to. Nothing he ever did was halfway. It was our sin that corrupted this world and made everything so messed up.
Worth It In The End
Maybe you have your attitude in check, but you just wonder if your hard things will ever amount to anything? I mean really, doesn’t being a normal teenager look more promising?
Maybe being a normal teenager looks promising on earth, but on the other side of heaven it isn’t. Doing hard things may be just that, hard and tiring, but one day God promises you will see the end. You will reap what you sow. To some people, that’s super scary! But to us rebelutionaries, it’s not scary at all. For we know what we will reap.
We’ll reap getting to see that friend you shared with, that little child you discipled, that elderly man you helped at the nursing home all in heaven rejoicing around the throne with you.
So rebelutionary, we may not feel like doing those hard things, and we may just feel like giving up. But don’t do it! It may look promising on earth, but in the end earthly gain burns up. Go out there and do hard things for God’s glory and for the praise of his glorious grace!
