I’m doing a new thing, but I won’t tell you what it is yet. You’ll find out soon.
The thing with new things is that newness brings uncertainty. Uncertainty invites doubt and doubt destroys confidence. A lack of confidence discourages the momentum you once had and you begin to slow down. You begin to question things and worry and if you do this long enough, you’ll talk yourself out of the new thing.
Can’t you see? Satan can do a lot of damage with just a little seed of uncertainty. He doesn’t just stop you from doing whatever it is you originally wanted to do. Noooo. He just gets you started and you take care of the rest and it’s kind of a slow, painful death of your dreams (maybe that’s dramatic, but you get my point). And all along the way you get to feel all of these bad emotions of doubt and worry and fear.
Ahh yes, fear. That’ll get you. My mom always says, “Fear is not of the Lord. That’s Satan.” My mom is wise. And she often does not act afraid. Chances are, if you’re her friend too, she’s said that to you. She’s got this thing in her that makes her want to chase people’s dreams for them when they’re too afraid to do it themselves. Sometimes I like to just tell her what I’m doing so she won’t let me talk myself out of it.
I think it's important that we call Satan out and discern the fear that's coming from him and the healthy fear that keeps us safe. Safe is only good until it's too safe. Then it's almost dangerous, maybe not for you, but maybe for the people around you whose lives you were made to impact but never did just because you were too afraid.
I’m getting to the point where this new thing is about to be public—open to rejection, criticism, and failure. When it’s my own little tiny, private thing, it can’t fail but it’s also not accomplishing anything. My goal is to accomplish stuff, so I can’t achieve my goal without the possibility of failure. I think all goals have that possibility. You either do it or you don’t. If you don’t try though, it’s guaranteed you’ll never achieve it, so in order to give yourself a chance, you best get going.
Am I afraid to get going? Why yes. But am I excited and is my passion for this project and my certainty of God’s hand being a part of it even greater than that fear? Oh yes, you better believe it is.
As Jesus’ disciples, we’re called to be fishers of men. I haven’t done a ton of fishing in my life, but I can promise you I’ve never caught more than one fish at a time. If this project only influences and encourages one person in their walk with the Lord, I’ve succeeded in fishing. Now, I suppose if I had a net I could catch a lot more fish, but I’ve never fished with a net before so I will just say I can still only catch one fish at a time.
One project. One fish. And one God who’s got a plan for it all. That’s what this is all about.
Hopefully this project will be more of a net kind of project that catches a lot of fish, but even just one fish is important. With that being said, stay tuned. I’ve got some fishing to do, and I bet you do too.
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