Do The Hard Thing!
On July 16, 1969, the United States landed on the moon. This monumental occasion, as you might imagine, was prefaced by years of labor, and many dates are thus significant in the history of the Space Race. One such date is September 11, 1962. On this date, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University. The most famous excerpt from that speech is as follows: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” If you were to go to NASA in Houston, TX, or Huntsville, AL, you would learn much about what it took to achieve the mission of putting a man on the moon.
Do you think that space travel was easy or hard? Unquestionably, it was very difficult, and President Kennedy said We are going to do it! He did not say, “How are we going to put a man on the moon? How are we going to go about moving around? We do not have moon rovers right now. What if the moon rovers break down? How do we repair them? What if someone is walking on the moon? How do we keep them from flying off? What if, what if??? No, those were not things he said: we are going to do hard things. What a lesson.
In life, we must do the hard things. If you are going to be a Christian, you must realize that you are going to have to give up the things that hinder you from walking faithfully. I realize that it may be hard. The Bible has said some things about this subject. Galatians 2:20 reads, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.” If one is crucified with Christ, the old man can no longer live. You cannot live as you formerly did before Christ (cf. Rom 6:1-2). Hebrews 10:26 reminds us, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins.” Thus, we understand that God demands that we give up willful sin.
Have you ever considered what Christ gave up? The Spirit records these details for us to think about.
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8)
If you want to give up, think like Jesus! He gave up His status of equality for a time being, and emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of man. He had flesh and bone just like us. So when Paul said, I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in me, do you think that implies it would be easy? Do you think that he meant a casual knowledge of God? Do you think he meant his task was to just go through the motions in worship on Sunday morning? No, we are called to live the crucified life. A life that demands us to do the hard things and reject the easy.
Doing the hard things in life will require the decision not to put off faithful living, but to execute it one day at a time, because that is all we have. When we wake each day, we have one day of choices. We must treat each day as valuable, after all, we have been redeemed, bought with a price, and we must glorify God in our bodies (cf. 1 Cor 6:20). This means we must give up what hinders us from glorifying God in our bodies. Sometimes those are actions, or words, and even relationships. If anything is presenting itself as a wedge between you and faithful living, it must go. That can be incredibly hard, but we are going to do it. We are committed to doing it because we are God’s people.
We must give up certain things, but we do not merely give up things without anything in return. What God gives to us is greater than anything we are required to give up. God gives us such a great promise as Philippians 3:7-8 affirms,
Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
All the things we give up are nothing when we receive the reward of gaining Christ in this life and the next. President Kennedy knew what he was asking when he challenged our nation to go all in on putting a man on the moon. He knew the sacrifice that it would require, and he still asked. The God of Heaven knows exactly what He is asking of man. He knew what He was asking was hard, but difficult does not mean impossible. Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 19:23). How will you respond? Will you do the hard things? Will you make worship a priority, prayer constant, and reject sin, seeking to live a holy and blameless life? I know you can, so do the hard thing!
