Do the Hard Things
My oldest daughter owns a red book with an eye-catching title. I don’t know if she left it out by design where I could see it. But I did see it.
The young author wrote it to challenge his fellow teens to “Do the Hard Things”. And it contains story after story of American teens who, instead hanging back and waiting for someone else to meet the need, stepped up to serve in ways older adults don’t normally let them serve. And the results have been astounding.
Two of my daughter’s friends started a homeless ministry in Portland, OR after being challenged by the author to do the hard things for God. Sure, it was difficult. Sure, they were tempted to quit. And, yes, many didn’t expect these two girls to pull it off. But they did it anyway. And it happened!
There’s a crisis of low expectations in God’s Church. We expect our youth to be irresponsible, pampered, and wasteful of their time, talents, energy, and lives. We expect them to do dumb things, or small things, or inconsequential things. We call them kids instead of young adults. We pamper and entertain them. We make it easy on them. So we bore them. Then they go out into the world to seek the danger they were born to seek.
We older adults rarely believe young adults are capable of great things, good things, and highly consequential things. So we seldom challenge them to do so. So we seldom give them the chance. And so they mostly live up to our diminished expectations.
Jesus, on the other hand, challenged a group of young men in the fishing business to leave everything behind and “Follow Me!”. And they did so! The angel Gabriel appeared to a 13-15 year old young woman, and told her she was going to bear the Messiah. It would cost her reputation in the small village to do so. Mary’s response was “Let it be done to me according to Your word”.
Samuel, a 12 year old priest in training, was summoned by God one night and told to tell his adopted father that God was going to judge the old priest for failing to deal with family sin. Not an easy assignment. But he did it. David, a 16-18 year old youth, as anointed King of Israel when the current king was still very much alive and likely to kill any rivals. Oh, did I mention the youth had to kill a giant as well? Easy–no. Successful through God–yes!
Josiah was 8 years old when he inherited the throne over a country his father and grandfather had royally messed up. At age 16, he sought the Lord and resolved to use his power to do something to reverse it. And he did it!
Jeremiah was a 16 year old as well, when God called him to prophetic ministry. His assignment was to spend his whole lifetime telling a hardened, violent populace that God was going to judge them for their sins–knowing in advance that nobody would ever respond to him. An easy assignment? No. A necessary one? Yes. And he did it.
I’m not talking about ego-driven grandiosity where our aim is to have the world applaud us or to be a celebrity. I’m answering this question: Is there anyone around here willing to take on the hard but desperately needed jobs God wants done?
And I’m saying this: God does not need us to be a certain age to use us. He quite often calls the youngest in the family, the kid watching the sheep, the youth nobody expects to kill a giant. And He is able to do so much more than we think He can–though us! What we do need is holy nerve, a dose of sanctified audacity called faith. It’s up to us to be open, willing, and tender to His voice.
So, for heaven’s sake, stop making excuses, stop being so stinking afraid, and stop feeling sorry for yourself! Do the hard things. And, please, when you look at a young adult, look at them through heaven’s eyes. Don’t be surprised if God asks them to do a hard thing that needs to be done. Don’t be someone who says, “No way! You’re too young! What do you know!”. Cheer them on instead, and challenge them to involve a friend or all their friends.
Do the hard things. Do the hard things. Do the hard things. In Christ, you can. You can. And you will!
