Pick One Thing

Change is hard. And often slow. And usually one step at a time.

We are covering a lot of ground in our Habits of Grace series: Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, service, generosity, worship, and rest. There is a lot to consider.

Kevin took a few minutes this last Sunday to help us process the quantity of input from the series, and we thought it was worth repeating. You can watch the video of his comments or read them below.

Then we encourage you to pick one thing.

Ask God:

• Which habit of grace should I focus on?
• What one simple aspect of that habit should I do right now?
• How can I do that one simple thing over and over again?

Video Transcript:

Early in January I preached on how you can find grace through reading the Bible. Then Steve Wyzga showed us how you can receive grace through prayer. Robin exhorted us to receive grace through gathering with one another as believers. Last Sunday, I explored how you can find grace through service.

I want to pause and try to help us process this series a bit before we get further into it.

When we hear over and over again, as we have in these weeks, about things we can and should be doing, most of us have a tendency to go in one of two directions. 

People get weighed down by all they think they need to be doing now. The task list has grown longer and they have grown overwhelmed. Others might be lulled into a kind of paralysis or numbness. They are able to tune it out now.

Maybe some of you are those to-do list people. You are making those lists. You are action types. But when that list gets long, you start feeling more and more that you are just falling short. You start feeling a little anxious. You are like a kettle that is starting to boil over with all the things that need to be done.

Others may feel like they are in that second group. You might feel like, “Man I am not making much progress on all these things I’ve been exhorted to do” and you’ve kind of decided to be OK with that. You are listening. You are largely agreeing. But you know there is no way to do it all, so you are just resigned to politely listen and not sweat it too much.

Well here is my encouragement to all of you, to all of us: Pick one thing.

Pick one habit of grace. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you towards one of these things that we’ve been exploring together, and even one facet of it that you’ve been encouraged in through these messages.

And just begin to take one step in that area.

And then take that step over and over and over again. 

The reality is that most of us only change in one area at a time. I don’t know how many of you made massive new year's resolution lists, and I don’t know how you are doing on that list now, but generally the longer that list is, the less and less that’s getting done. 

We are finite creatures. We are not God. God is the only One who gets his task list done every day, and so there is a reality that you and I have limitations in what we are able to give our attention and our growth to.

And so I want to encourage you to find that one thing, and I think you will find that as you take one step over and over, you’ll ultimately make more progress than you would have if you had gone with the big list to begin with.