Last weekend, my wife and I were back on Vancouver Island visiting with family. For one of the mornings, we went golfing with my father-in-law. Now I have not picked up a golf club (short of a putter for mini-golf) in almost a decade. Needless to say, I lost a few balls in a ravine that we had to cross a few times. As I think back to why I did so poorly, a couple of reasons came to mind. The first is I kept taking my eye off of the ball. This caused me to lift up the club and I ended up hitting the ball along the ground or missing it entirely. Secondly, I tried too hard. As someone who is left-handed and played a bit of baseball, I”m kept defaulting to my “home-run” swing. Note to golfer wannabees out there… it doesn’t work. The last reason why I did so poorly was I often hesitated. I took too much time thinking about how and where I was going to hit the ball and by the time I swung, my mind and eyes were not where they should have been…

Hesitation happens to all of us in a myriad of different situations. How many of you have ever tried hitting a baseball? Maybe it was in a batting cage or even from someone pitching it to you. You think about the size of the ball, the size of the bat and your ability to see. Not a problem to hit it, right? More often than not, you miss. Maybe you have played hockey and you receive a beautiful pass for a one timer, but you swing and miss it entirely?

The problem most of us have when it comes to things like sports and other activities is we do sometimes hesitate. If you hesitate while swinging or shooting, the odds are you will miss. If we hesitate to cross the street, it can lead to injury. To hesitate means we are unsure, have doubts and sometimes a lack of faith in what we are doing.

This is also true in how we live our lives in the service of God. While there are times where God wants us to wait for His answer to our prayers, there are other times where we are instructed to move forward in boldness, believing He will do or provide exactly as He has promised.

Have you ever hesitated and missed an opportunity? Most of us have. When this happens, we ask ourselves questions like, “Do I believe God created me for a purpose?” or “Am I sure God has a plan for my life and I am really walking in His will?”

If the answer is “Yes,” then we can continue to walk in faith moving forward. But if we answer, “No,” then we will begin to hesitate and wonder if God really is leading us or what are we doing wrong that is preventing us from succeeding. Thoughts of doubt and our own insecurities creep in. We can either become paralyzed or move backward in life.

I want to assure you that if you are God’s child, He has placed His ownership, His seal on you. You are His and your life contains everything you need to reach the goals and fulfill the purposes God has for you.

Our church’s mission statement is to “Share God’s love and help you fulfill God’s purpose for your life.” The church’s role, therefore, is to help you both discover and flourish in God’s purpose. But so many Christians struggle with this foundational truth, the teaching that God does have a plan for your life.

Each one of us will go through life wondering if what we are doing really counts or makes a difference. Sometimes there are frustrations when we have to deviate from what our original plan might have been. The feelings that arise from these situations can inhibit us from moving forward and we can find ourselves languishing in thoughts of failure. But when we do that, we neglect the truths taught throughout Scripture:

God wants to work in and through you. It may not seem like it, but we are progressing towards becoming more in the image of Jesus. However incrementally, He is at work. As Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…” We often quote Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In other words, we were made to do things for God… we have a purpose!

But not all the things we try end up in success. You might be thinking, I’ve tried and nothing seems to work. Why try again and risk being disappointed? At least I can stay where I am and feel comfortable. Few people enjoy watching others move forward in life while they remain behind the starting line. Secretly and deep down inside, each one of us wants to achieve something wonderful in life. This is perfectly normal.

God created each of us with a plan in mind. It is not a plan of failure. It is a plan of success whereby we are conformed more and more into the image of Jesus and His plans are brought to fruition. The truth is a failure is not part of God’s vocabulary neither are any words which produce condemnation and hopelessness.

Success in God’s eyes does not necessarily means becoming president of a company or acquiring great wealth. That being said, it does mean doing what we were created to do – using our gifts, talents, abilities, and resources to glorify God and fulfill our greatest potential which also glorifies God in the process. But when we allow the focus of our hearts to be turned away from the course God gave to us to travel, we risk suffering defeat.

When God called the Moses to lead the people out of captivity in Egypt, He instructed them to go into the Promised Land and take it as their inheritance. As part of their due diligence, they sent twelve spies into the land to check it out. Their report was full of the bountiful land filled with huge grapes and honey. Caleb, like his fellow spy Joshua, were men of faith. He said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”

Unfortunately, they were outnumbered by the other ten who acknowledged the bounty, but also noted that the residents there were giants and they were grasshoppers in their eyes. In the end, the people balked at the idea of entering the land. They hesitated to do what God commanded them to do… to take which was given to them.

But the question that arises from this situation is, “Why does God allow us to face challenges that sometimes seem beyond anything we could accomplish?”

The answer is simple. He wants us to depend totally on Him – to listen to His voice and to view Him as our provider for every need we have. If we can figure out a way to reach the goal or complete the task apart from Him, then we no longer walk by faith but will walk in the light of what we can accomplish on our own.

As Christians, we can easily trust our eternities with God but I also know from my own experience, it is more difficult to trust with our day to day living. If there are areas where we think we can “control” on our own, we will do it. But to do so would mean not living by faith.

In the end, the Christian’s desire is for God’s glory in their lives. But for God to be glorified in our lives, we must learn to learn to live by faith in all things, trusting Him every step of the way. As opportunities arise, we mustn’t hesitate, rather we need to grasp the opportunities in and by faith, trusting Him to lead and empower. Is it easy? No, but as we learn to trust Him, obedience will replace hesitation and God will be glorified.