how will you make progress?
just get going
I’m a fairly driven person. And in StrengthsFinders lingo, my personality is marked by words like “maximizer” and “focus.” Which means I find myself thinking a great deal about how to make progress in pretty much everything. How to move forward. How to make it better. How to get better. I can tend toward perfectionism. If I’m honest, it can be exhausting (any other 1’s on the enneagram scale out there?).
An ironic twist on perfectionism is that it can paralyze you because it can create a fear of getting moving. Because, you know, if I don’t do this perfectly, then, well…..so why start at all?
So it was quite helpful this morning to hear a word from one of the wisest, gentlest souls I know — pastor Ray Ortlund. Where I heard from Ray was in a book of letters to a son, and in the letter I was reading this morning he is encouraging the possibility of progress; of forward movement. And while the movement he’s talking about is the fight against the evils of the porn industry, I find his advice applicable to all our hopes of forward progress, in whatever area.
Ray writes,
“…your part is basically simple. Not easy, but simple.
Just get going.
Stop doing nothing, and start doing something. And your something is whatever you can do.
…for now, just settle into this confidence. As you step out and get involved, all along the way the risen Jesus will keep giving you everything you need for building his new world. Yes, you’ll pay a price. Yes, you’ll sometimes fail — or you’ll feel like you’re failing. But with his smile upon you, you’ll be able to keep going, and keep going, and keep going, and never quit.
You’re on the right side of history, Son, not because of your resolve, but because of his resurrection. Your time is now, not ten yours from now. Your task is before you, not on some distant horizon. I am confident about your future because of his future. He is why you are successful before you even move a muscle. So go ahead and accept his call to action, whatever he asks you to do.
Huh. Are we willing to believe that? That Jesus is why we are successful, before we even move a muscle? That all our movement is not due to our resolve, but his resurrection? That the progress, improvement, and movement is certain and sure before we’ve even progressed, improved, and moved? I wonder…
Ray continues,
Your fight is like the final months of World War II. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Allied troops stormed the northern coast of France to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny. Once those soldiers had heroically, ferociously established a beachhead, they started moving inland, gaining ground one blood-soaked mile after another. The fight dragged on until May 8, 1945, VE-Day — nearly a year later — when the Germans finally surrendered. But the war had been won eleven months before, when the Germans couldn’t stop the Allied landings on D-Day.
To the guys who fought so hard from the beaches of France into the heart of Germany, no sacrifice along the way was a waste. They were fighting not just for victory but in victory.
Whoa. Again, are we willing to believe that? That we are fighting in victory, right now?
I’m struck at how deeply I need to ponder this. I still feel like I’m just on the edges of understanding something here from Ray so significant and freeing for how I live each day as my old perfectionist, maximizer self. The idea that progress is ensured by realizing and remembering that the outcome is already guaranteed. In a sense, has already happened. And now I’m just living that progression out….hmmmm.
Ray continues pressing his argument,
In the same way [as those Allied soldiers], Jesus won the decisive battle for this whole world by his death and resurrection two thousand years ago. His death looked like defeat. But he came roaring back with new life forever. Who can stop him now? His final victory is inevitable — a whole new world of nobility. Yes, we’re still in the fight. And it’s hard. But you’re on the winning side. No sacrifice is pointless. Every sacrifice contributes. You’re serving his powerful cause, with his constant help. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)…
So we’re no longer limited to ourselves.
What a freeing, life-giving sentence! We’re no longer limited to ourselves.
It’s not up to merely us. We don't have to depend on our limited resources, but his unlimited ones. We don’t have to depend on our weak efforts, but his omnipotent ones. We don’t have to rely on our constrained understanding, but his divine wisdom.
As I step into today, Ray has challenged and encouraged me with the reality that I am fighting for progress in a victory already won. That this day is a successful one before I move another muscle, because of Jesus. Today I can accept his call to action, whatever he asks of me, because in the asking he also offers his constant help. And who can stop the risen, conquering King?
It’s for me.
And for you.
If we’re not too big to accept it.
(Note: the above excerpts were taken from Ray’s new book, The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility. I highly commend it to you!)
