Hi this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Just Do It
This slogan used by the Nike footwear company for many years was a very successful ad campaign. These three simple words sold a lot of shoes over the years. Why? Perhaps it was because most of us carry in our hearts and minds dreams of things we would like to do. Nike was able to use the presence of some of those dreams, and the often accompanying thought that we just don’t have what we need to make those dreams come true, to increase their sales. If you had a dream…and bought their shoes…you could ‘Just Do It’.
I am a bit of a woodworker and have built many pieces of furniture over the years, in fact as I have mentioned in past podcasts I actually did that as my vocation for a while. Though that business has been closed for many years now, I still carry the dream of building something I never have before…Windsor chairs. In preparation for the undertaking I did what I often do…I went to YouTube University. There I became familiar with one of the premier Windsor chair makers in America today. He is a gentleman by the name of Curtis Buchanan. Curtis has graciously documented on video every step of making a chair from choosing the trees all the way to applying the milk paint finish and lacquer. He not only describes the necessary actions one must take to build a chair, he also talks about other topics of interest to him as he instructs how to duplicate his craft. He is self-taught, and yet viewed as one of the best chair makers in the industry. During an interview I watched he was asked, “How did you go from being self-taught to being one of the most well-known chair makers of our time. His answer was simple, yet profound. In his southern drawl he said, “I don’t know if I am…but if it’s true I guess it’s just because I kept at it the longest”. In other words, Curtis didn’t let anything stop him…he just did it.
We all have dreams in our hearts and minds. I’m not talking about me making Windsor chairs or some young kid dreaming of being the next star running back in the NFL. I’m talking about those dreams of ministry, those dreams of ways you and I can love people. Some of those dreams are big ones and will require many resources to accomplish, some of them smaller in scope, but still requiring investment to make them come true. What makes some people able to realize their dreams while others never get past the drawing board? I know this…It’s not the shoes.
I think what differentiates those who see dreams fulfilled from those who don’t is ownership. Who owns the dream? Is it in your heart and mind because it is yours? If so, you need to find all of the resources to make it happen. You are responsible for setting all of the necessary steps in motion to see it come to pass. If I want to build that chair, I need to attain the knowledge, I need to buy the tools, I need to collect the wood, I need to dedicate the time and effort, I need to solve any problems that arise. If I do all of those things and stick with it as Curtis Buchanan suggests, then I can build my very own hand crafted Windsor chair. However, if I am not the owner of the dream, most of those aforementioned steps are someone else’s responsibility. So, if the dream’s author and owner is God’s Holy Spirit then all of that is on Him. I only have to…Just do it!
Pastor Rick says often, “If God has said it, it’s like money in the bank.” What he means is that if God puts a dream in your heart, on your mind, of a way to love others…Just Do It. God doesn’t ever simply drop a dream into our minds and then leave the logistics up to us…He has already made the preparations, all He needs from us is to…Just do it! Ephesians 2:8-10 in the New King James Version read as follows: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God’s word is clear, in Christ we have been renewed so that we can do the good works, or in other words fulfill the dreams He puts in our hearts that God has intended all along for us to do. All you have to do? Just do it.
Allow me to read a few selected verses from John chapter 15 from the New Living Translation. Verses 5,7-8,16 & 17: 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing… 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father… 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other. I love this scripture because it points out that the dream isn’t mine or yours. We wouldn’t even have it, nor could we do anything about it if we were not connected to the vine. Because the dream comes through the vine, we can look to the vine to provide what is needed to see the dream come to fruition. This scripture concludes by reiterating, we were chosen to carry out the dream, the background work is already in progress. Anything we might imagine is necessary to carry out the dream can be requested of the owner of the dream and we are assured it will be granted. Philippians 4:19 confirms this: 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Again in 2 Corinthians 9:8 the point is made: 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
If God puts the dream in your heart, it is as good as done. It has been purposed for you to be the one to carry it out. There is no need to be overwhelmed by that. It’s His plan not yours, He will make the way. It is His plan, don’t try to hijack it. Do it His way, He has already been working in the background to make it happen His way. Just do it…and give Him all of the glory and praise. I will conclude today with Ephesians 3:20, 21 and allow the scripture to put the exclamation point on this entry. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
So now, recognizing who owns the dream, and who needs to…Just do it…Go be awesome!