Preaching editor Michael Duduit once asked Warren Wiersbe which one word of encouragement he would like to pass on to other preachers. Wiersbe said…
“Give your morning to God. Start your day with the Lord. Ministry is not what we do as much as what we are…If I didn’t spend time every day with the Lord and let him build me into what he wants, I couldn’t do what he wants. So my word would be that: Cultivate your spiritual roots. Give your morning to God.”
Some 90 years ago, as Notre Dame was preparing to play USC in college football, Fighting Irish coach Knute Rockne was aware that his opponent had a far better team, so he devised a plan to intimidate the Trojan players.
Rockne scoured the city of South Bend and hand-picked 100 of the largest men he could find–each at least six-foot-five and three hundred pounds. He put them in Fighting Irish uniforms and at game time marched them onto the field ahead of the real team. (Obviously, this was before the days of limited rosters and eligibility restrictions.)
As USC watched these giants line up on the sidelines, they forgot about their talent and their undefeated record, and they began mentally preparing themselves for a beating. Though none of the specially recruited men played during the game, their presence on the sidelines was enough to knock Southern Cal’s concentration off balance. Knute Rockne’s trick had worked; he had intimidated the Trojan players into giving up before the game even started, and Notre Dame won.
Our ‘opponent’ tries a similar trick. He tries to intimidate us by appearing larger than life– but we must remember that he, too, has been sidelined. John said, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
Don’t let your problems intimidate you. No matter how big the enemy may seem to be, remember that you have God’s power on your side. And he is greater.
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, said, “You learn more character on the 2 yard line than anywhere else in life.”
He’s right. Depending on which side of the ball you’re on, the 2 yard line means you’re right on the edge of success or failure.
That’s when it’s time to dig in, to make a final surge for the score or a last minute stand against defeat.
In ministry, as well as in life, you often find yourself on the 2 yard line — just this side of success, or just that side of defeat.
And often it’s a combination of the two. That’s because life, unlike football, makes it possible to be both places at once.
Consider the challenges you’re facing today. What does victory demand you do? Push harder here? Stand tougher there?
Either way, it’s time to dig in. Time to persevere, to persist in doing good one more day, making one more effort to accomplish that to which we have been called.
Let us not become weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:10)
Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6:7)
Your life is a never-ending cycle of reaping and sowing, of planting and harvesting. Every day you experience both.
Today you will enjoy (or, in some cases, not enjoy) a harvest you have planted in past days or weeks or months or years.
And today you are planting tomorrow’s harvest. Your actions today create the life you will experience tomorrow, and in the days to come.
“The one who sows to please the Spirit,” Paul says, “from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
And then he encourages us:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
Sometimes it requires all of your emotional reserves just to continue one more day in your journey. Remember: this is a journey worth taking, and it is not without reward. At the proper time, you will reap the harvest that you are sowing today.
So keep sowing. Make the calls that aren’t always easy to make. Finish the task you’ve been putting off. Confront the problems you’ve avoided. Do what needs to be done.
Keep sowing today, and wait for the harvest.
As the book of Job says, God will make all things beautiful for you in his time.