I’m Contradicting Myself

Disclaimer: These are just my personal thoughts and something I derived from my church planting experiences.  I’m not claiming that this is from the Bible, but this is something I am processing.  However, all because something isn’t  exactly in the Bible doesn’t mean that it’s anti-biblical.  

As we continue to pray hard and work hard towards being good stewards of the work that Jesus put before us and planting Fervent Church in Hoboken, I’ve developed this paradox or two contradicting proverbs of mine.

“Things are never as hard as they seem.”

“Things are often harder than they seem.”

Similar to the famous contradicting verses in the Bible, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.” [Pr 26:4] and “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.” [Pr 26:5], it all depends on what God is doing in the moment.  There are times when I don’t need to fight fire with fire because I will just mirror the fool and join in on his/her foolishness.  Then there are times when I have the leverage to influence that person, and I need to not be passive but bring correction so that the fool will no longer remain a fool.

In the same way, “Things are never as hard as they seem.”  Sometimes, I’m overly logical and I count the cost to the point where all my faith is sucked out of me and I allow myself to think that this is too hard and it can’t be done.  However, by the Grace of God, I push through my logic and take a step of faith then realize that because of God, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.  This can be applied to our evangelism especially.  At times, I look at a person’s strong personality and think that they will never give me the time or day to speak to them about Jesus.  Then, I do it anyway and more often than not, it ends with the person crying like a baby and realizing their need for a Savior.

AND THEN there’s the statement that, “Things are often harder than they seem.”  There are times when I use phrases like, “let’s just…” or “that’s easy…” due to pride or reliance on my gifts, talents, and abilities.  God then uses those situations as an opportunity to humble me and show me that I can do this with Him or without Him, but one is always better than the other.

So discern the moments and walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)

“Stay thirsty my friends.”