Is It Really Worth It?
Is It Really Worth It?
Randomly one day you find a unique passion. You do your research, you realize it wouldn’t necessarily be hard to accomplish your dream, you make a plan. You commit to your plan. 2 weeks pass… “Is it really worth it?”
and…
your passion now begrudgingly becomes work.
You ask yourself the question, “Is it really worth it?”
Believe me when I say, I. Have. Been. There. Unfortunately, I have been there more times than I can count. The sad part is I find myself doing this with things I originally was super passionate about. I have really dug into this pattern to find out why it is the way we so often live our lives.
Commitment
I don’t think I have commitment issues to be honest, I don’t think you do either. There are several things I have been very committed to. I am faithful to my wife, I am faithful to pay my bills, I’m faithful to the house of God. But when it comes to a full fledged hobby, I am just flat terrible.
I think one of the reasons I struggle with staying the course (perhaps this is your reason too) is I am passionate about too much. The only regret I have in life is that I can’t live 100 lives. I would love to pursue so many careers to master them all and bless more and more people with genuine zeal.
The problem with wanting to be good at everything is eventually you become good at nothing. Being completely transparent here, but this is where I have lived most of my life. In fact my best friend from college once told me, “Colton, I know the only thing you’re called to do in life is preach because it’s the only thing you stay committed to.”
That has to be one of the funniest memories I have because it is so true. Thankfully, He is right. Since I was 14 that’s the only thing I have been able to do. BUT, I think there is a treasure in this thought.
Treasure the Failures
I thinking failure happens to be the greatest asset to accomplishing what God calls us to do. There is a contingency here though. IF we allow failure to do perform this work. No one wants to fail at life, much less the Lord Himself. But here’s the deal, the only true failure is when you stop trying…
Now, I know that former statement can often be looked at like an elementary type motivational line, but it’s true. The only failure that is final is when you decide to stop trying. This is what failure teaches us.
Failure, although perhaps the most painful of experiences, forces a made up mind to focus on what you are truly called to do. Perhaps you have failed at everything you have tried to do, failed relationships, failed careers, failed this and that; here’s the lesson… Maybe you have failed at all of these things so that you would give up your own will and allow God to perform His will inside of your life.
Fall into the Gospel
The Gospel is good news. The great news is you can fail your way right to the throne room of grace. Now, read carefully. Once this grace is received it is the power of God to overcome failure in terms of sin. But that’s what His grace is for! To empower us to live for Christ, to help us in our weaknesses find our calling in the Lord’s will. We fail because it makes us rely on the one who who never fails.
The gospel is the realization that I am an unclean failure, but Christ is a greater clean and perfect Savior. This is the revelation we must come to day in and day out. And thankfully the Lord uses our failures to teach us this. You don’t learn from great successes you learn from great failure. If you are asking yourself, “Is it really worth it?” The answer is, “Yes, it is worth it, Christ has made it worth it.”
Failure is the crooked bend in the road that forces us to turn to Christ. Failing is the hard truth on knowing you can’t do it on your own, you and I must continually ever and always turn to Christ.
As always…
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