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An urge, as you know, is a strong desire or impulse. And all-too-often we are victims of our strong desires or impulses—our urges—which take us down the wrong path and cause trouble. We all have them, so I simply want to point out some urges we need to be aware of and by God’s grace, resist.
1. Resist the urge to let your emotions and enthusiasm launch you into unwise action.
I begin with this one because I recognize that too often this has been my modus operandi. I get a bright idea, an emotional urge, and I think it must be the right thing to do because I feel so strongly about it. And then, without proper thought or consideration or prayer, I plunge headlong into a project or start trying to do something that is either unwise or poorly planned.
Certainly we want to be people of action; we don’t want to sit on the sidelines talking about what we might do, handicapped by fear of making the wrong move. Walking by faith will take us outside our comfort zones and lead us to attempt things that can only be done with God’s help. Following Jesus is never a risk-free life. But at the same time, the Bible tells us that God does things decently and in order, and we need to be cautious when we move too quickly based mainly on how we feel about something.
Feelings are not always to be trusted, you know. Someone has said that feelings have zero IQ, meaning they may be strong but they’re not necessarily smart. Allowing your feelings to drive your actions is not being brave and courageous so much as it is being foolish and naïve.
Here is one thing I’ve learned that has helped to curb my tendency to launch into something prematurely and ill-advised, and it’s pretty simple: Just sleep on it. It may look like the greatest idea you’ve ever had today, but a good night’s sleep could totally change your perspective. That may mean literally wait until tomorrow, or it may mean keep sleeping on it until you have clearer thoughts and plans.
Proverbs 15:22 gives us very good advice: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” If your idea or plan is of God and it is good, it will stand the test of time. So, seek counsel from the right people, and of course, mainly seek God’s counsel. Pray much and ask God for guidance from his word. We can save ourselves a lot of unnecessary trouble and avoid wasted time if we resist the urge to launch into something based solely on our emotions.
Here’s another common urge that can get us into trouble:
2. Resist the urge to wait for everything to be perfect before you take action.
I just reminded you to resist the urge to launch into something based solely on your emotions or enthusiasm. Well, this is the flip side of that urge—and that is the idea that we can’t possibly make a move or get anything going until all of our ducks are in a row and we have every resource we need to make it happen.
Whether it’s on your job or in your personal life, seldom will everything fall perfectly in place as you pursue something new or challenging. Sometimes we set up preconditions for moving forward that are either unrealistic or simply an excuse for staying put! I can tell you that no matter how much homework you do, no matter how careful your planning process is—and it should be—things will not go exactly according to plan. And most often you have to get going before you have everything you think you need.
I am now in the midst of guiding a project that needs careful planning. We’ve already done tons of planning, including a detailed strategic plan, lots of counsel with wise people, educating ourselves in many ways. But I can tell you that God has already made it clear that we make our plans, but it is God that guides our path.
Proverbs 19:21 says: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” God has ways of showing us that his way is perfect, not ours. And we can move forward in whatever we believe he would have us do with confidence that our best plans will no doubt undergo lots of changes along the way.
This is how our faith is increased; how we learn to truly trust God, and of course, when we trust him, he is pleased with us. So resist the urge to sit on the sidelines and wait for every “T” to be crossed and every “I” dotted.
Are you a competitive person? I have to confess that I am very competitive; I’m a very poor loser. You probably wouldn’t want to play Monopoly or Scrabble with me. Now, being competitive can have its positive effects. It causes you to really work hard in order to win. But it also has its very negative effects as well. So, here is another urge we need to resist.
3. Resist the urge to try to be better than everyone else.
You know, we can’t all be good at doing everything, no matter how hard we try. And when we compare ourselves to others out of jealousy or competitiveness, it is a clear indication that something is wrong with our motivation. If I want to do something good or great just to prove that I can do it better than anyone else, then it’s obvious I need to confess the sin of envy and pride and ask God to purify my heart.
This has always been a difficult lesson for me to learn, and I have to admit that it is one I must continually re-learn. There are tons of people who can do things I do much better than I do them. That’s just a fact of life. Now that doesn’t excuse me for being sloppy or not doing the most with what I have. But it also doesn’t mean that what I do is worthless simply because it’s not as good as what someone else does.
I’ve been privileged and gifted by God to teach and admonish people. That’s my gift, and I love it. But it has taken me far too long to get to the place where I can hear other speakers and teachers whose skills and gifts are superior to mine, and simply learn from them and thank God for their gifts.
God doesn’t compare you with anyone else. However, he does fully expect you to take what he has given you and improve it. That’s what the parable of the talents is all about. It doesn’t matter what you start with; it matters what you do with what you’ve been given. Paul wrote to young Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.” That’s a prayer I often pray—that I will be a good steward of my gifts and opportunities, but the good news is, I don’t have to be better than anyone else. Take it from me—that is an urge to resist.
Do you live by a to-do list, as I do? Isn’t it true that everyone is busy these days? When was the last time someone said, “I don’t have enough to do!”? It’s far more likely to hear people talk about how much they have to do and how far behind they are.
So, here’s another urge to resist:
4. Resist the urge to do shoddy, careless work just in order to get it done.
You know, it feels good to check off those duties on your list and sigh that sigh of relief because you got something done! I love it when I can look back on my day and say, “Way to go, Mary; you got lots of stuff done today.” But sometimes I find I so want to get things off my list, that I can resort to doing a half-way job just to get it done.
A simple motto that I often repeat to myself is “Do it right and do it now.” Doing something right the first time eliminates mistakes and having to go back and re-do it later on. In the long run it is a time saver to do it right from the get-go. And of course, doing it now eliminates that horrible habit of procrastination.
I think this urge to get things done is especially strong when we face something we don’t really want to do—one of those jobs we’d gladly give up if we could. Ecclesiastes 9:10a says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might….” You know, this should be a hallmark in the life of every Christ-follower—that we do our work with all our might. Do you have that kind of reputation where you work? You may not be the fastest or the smartest person on the job, but you can always be the hardest worker, the one who truly strives to do the job well, even the parts of the job which are not that much fun!
The times when I try to short-circuit the process and do something in a hurry, carelessly, under pressure to just get it done, it always backfires on me. Shoddy work done without attention to details is one of those urges we all need to resist—no matter how busy we are or how much we may not want to do the job at hand.
Has your dream or your project run into some rough patches lately? I can promise you that pursuing your vision and your passion will always have times of setback and discouragement, and you will want to give up. Here’s the last urge we need to resist:
5. Resist the urge to quit just because it’s getting hard to do something.
I don’t care how motivated you are or how passionately you are pursing something, there will come a day when you will want to quit. In the thirty-seven plus years I’ve been broadcasting this program, I’ve had those urges to run away. I think that’s what David was feeling when he wrote, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (Psalm 55:6). It’s that common urge to just walk away. It’s hard; it’s not fun anymore; we’re running into opposition; people are criticizing us; others are not doing what they promised to do. These things start piling up and we get the urge to quit because it’s really hard.
I recall a meeting with my leadership team at church when we were discussing a new project we had embarked on and the criticism that came as a result, and it was especially hard on the one person who had planned and led the project. She had been treated unfairly and harshly by her fellow-believers—it’s hard to believe, but it happens! And after all her hard work, that was really discouraging.
But I just reminded her of how we were breaking new ground and this was where God was leading us, and I encouraged her not to even think of giving up now, and she didn’t! She did the hard stuff, but I knew God was in this and we had to stick it out through the hard times.
The Apostle Paul had to resist this urge to quit in hard times probably more than anyone else ever has. And he wrote to the Galatians: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). So, let’s covenant with God that we will resist the urge to quit just because it’s not easy!
Remember the five urges we need to resist are:
- letting your emotions and enthusiasm launch you into unwise action.
- waiting for everything to be perfect before you take action.
- trying to be better than everyone else.
- doing shoddy, careless work just in order to get it done!
- quitting just because it’s getting hard to do something.