Don't HESITATE!

Do you ever HESITATE?  I can be the worst at that!  I hesitate when it comes to what to wear, where to eat, what colors to paint my cabinets.  When it comes to decisions, I can almost immobilize myself by indecision and hesitation.  This is why today I am going to interrupt the discussion we have been having about How to Abide in Christ in order to encourage us to Keep ON!!  In the craziness of Life we can get swept up and swept away by the overwhelming current of our tasks and decisions that we can end up feeling like we want to shrink back and quit.  I have personally been going through a time of facing many decisions and praying for God’s direction.  During this season of praying and waiting the external and internal pressure has been building!  There is so much thrown at us, at times, that we can feel almost paralyzed by uncertainty and indecision and we just stop moving all together.  It was at this moment the other day that I heard my husband reading from Acts 20, and I’ll just tell you that there is something powerful about hearing your man read the Word of God out loud!  I just love it and am so blessed by it!  A little while later, though, I was sitting with my Bible and pouring my heart out to the Lord, confessing this feeling of being overwhelmed, and when I opened my Bible, I opened it to Acts 20.  As I read, I knew what the Lord was reminding me of.  No matter what the question, no matter what the situation, No matter what the answer, there is a job we have been given to do no matter WHAT!  We are called to never stop sharing the good news of God’s Grace!  As Paul was getting ready to leave the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20, he said this to them:  “ You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”  He then goes on to say this, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace…for I have not hesitated to proclaim the whole will of God!”  A couple words really jumped out at me.  The first was the phrase, “I have NOT HESITATED to preach!”  Paul says this a couple times!  What an incredible admission!  He never hesitated to preach the gospel!  Have you ever had moments of hesitation?  Those times where you pause, you hold back, or are reluctant to do something.  That is what it means to hesitate.  As we go through moments of seeking direction and dealing with the craziness of life, there is one thing we never have to question and that is whether or not we should preach the good news of Jesus Christ!  That is something we should do without hesitation!  We might hesitate when it comes to who to marry, or where to send our kids for school, or what the best shade of lipstick is that goes with our outfit, but if we are so focused on our situations that we hesitate to share the truth of the gospel than we’re missing it!  What is incredible to me is that after telling us that he has not hesitated to preach, Paul then goes on to tell us this phrase, “not KNOWING what will happen!”  You see Paul did not have all the answers either.  He didn’t have every duck in a row, or ever step mapped out.  He admits right there that he Did NOT know what was about to happen, but that did not stop him from “Completing his task!”  That is the last phrase I just love.  He considered everything else about his life worth Nothing to him, except FINISHING the race and COMPLETING the Task God had given him to do, which was preaching the Whole Will of God to anyone God placed in his path!  All the other questions in life fell away when he thought of the ONE task he was given to do.  This speaks so powerfully to me, because no matter what else is going on around me I have been given this one task – To Preach the Good news of God’s Grace, and guess what…so have you!  There are many different ways we are called to do that, but if we understand that fulfilling the Great Commission is our number one priority than it makes moving forward a little easier in this life!  I have noticed that if I am getting too focused on questions that revolve around me I have probably taken my eyes off what is truly important, and that is God!  You see if I am truly living to bring God glory, then it doesn’t really matter where I am or what I have been given to do as long as everywhere I go and in all that I do I do NOT hesitate to preach about the good news of God’s Grace!  The Lord is the one who is in charge of where He wants me and when, and how, and I trust Him to place me correctly!  Even when I do not know the answers to those things, I don’t have to be immobilized by indecision because I know the task I have been given to accomplish while on this Earth, and I will NOT hesitate to complete it!  Jesus Himself said in Luke 4:43, “I MUST proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God…for this is why I was sent!”  Paul knew that this was his task as well.  It was also given to Peter, and John, and Lydia, and Mary Magdalene, and Timothy, and James, and to YOU and I!  When we don’t know what will happen next in life, Don’t Hesitate to Preach.  When we have no idea what decision we should make with work, don’t shrink back from sharing the gospel.  When we are unsure about direction for ministry, don’t stop running this race.  No Matter what, Don’t shrink back, Don’t quit, DO NOT Hesitate!  Complete the task!