The Hard Yards

I love the book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.  It is a challenge to all people to boldly undertake tasks bigger than yourself with faith in God for His glory.  While it is true that a chronic problem exists in society of holding low expectations for youth, people of all ages have a propensity to abandon tasks when faced with obstacles.  Christians can adopt an unfounded idea that because God is in us, the Christian life is similar to a cake-walk at a fair:  you have your ticket in your hand, walk around in a circle prompted by happy music, and in a couple minutes you'll have your pick of a sweet dessert.  Christianity is not the life you've always wanted - it is the life God has designed for you to embrace.  It is a life of doing hard things that God does through willing vessels completely committed to Him.

In Australia we have a saying.  When someone chooses to do hard things, they are "doing the hard yards."  Everyone loves the idea of eating fresh bread, but like the fable of the Little Red Hen shows us there are few who are willing to sweat through seasons of preparation.  Before the wheat can be planted, the rocks must be moved.  Ministry in a foreign field is like moving rocks.  Instead of becoming disillusioned because fruit is not evident, we need to understand that large, rugged, neglected fields take a long time to clear and prepare.  Unless someone is willing to clear the land of brambles, break the boulders, carry away the stones, and dig up the old stumps, that field can never be plowed or planted.  Unless there is planting, there will be no growth or fruitfulness that is desired by the farmer.  Without planting there will never be a harvest.

What we need in every aspect of ministry today are people who are willing to put in the hard yards, regardless of how much fruit is evident to them.  We need people in the church who are happy to move rocks all their lives in anonymity so future generations will reap a bountiful harvest.  We need people whose great delight reflects the heart of Christ and Paul as seen in 2 Corinthians 12:15:  "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved."  Instead of being disheartened because a church isn't growing numerically or the pats on the back never come, we are to look to Christ, glad to spend and be spent for God's glory.  What is my life without Christ?  I can do nothing, but through His Spirit strongholds can be broken down.  Not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit!  God designed the church to be fruitful, even as He put the ability to bear fruit in the DNA of a lemon tree.

Jeremiah 23:29 reads, "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"  Before the power of God's Word can be released upon a nation or city, it must first break the hard hearts and stubborn minds of God's people.  We must die to ourselves - our lives, dreams, goals, aspirations, and hopes - all placed willingly upon the altar of God's perfect will.  We must stop halting between two opinions, and choose to heed God's Word with one heart and one mind:  the mind of Christ.  It is only God who can place in His people the resolve to walk by faith, not by sight.  He is the One who allowed Noah to preach righteousness for 100 years and only had his immediate family and brute beasts respond to the message of salvation.  God strengthened Jeremiah and Ezekiel to reach out to a nation who would not heed them.  Are you any better than they?  God is able to make children of Abraham from stones if it be His will.  Can't He redeem your labours for His glory?

Do the hard yards.  Don't give up; don't give in to despair!  If Christ be for us, who can be against us?