Learning To Follow Through

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:14 NASB

One of the hardest battles that I faced was learning what it meant to follow through. I was really good at talking out of both sides of my mouth, but I was terrible at sincerity. Even now, I can usually tell when someone is “playing the game” because I can see so much of my old self in their words and actions.

Getting our lives right requires commitment; commitment to Christ, ourselves, family, friends, employers and recovery. Without commitment we will continue to live in the same “yo yo” existence we have always dwelt in for much of our lives.  Commitment requires follow through. No more empty promises. No more excuses. No more omitting details to manipulate people and situations. Our words must become trustworthy; and the only way to do that is to stop old habits. If we are going to truly commit to change, we have to learn to build bridges, not burn them.

Many of our lives have been marked by lies and inconsistency-the total opposite of who Christ is. Once we get on board the salvation train, the wishy-washy has to give way to Truth. We have to intentionally work on following through, committing, and being consistent.

Do you see yourself anywhere in these words? Do you have a track record of being inconsistent? I want to challenge you to commit your words and actions to a “God-filter”. Before committing to or promising something, talk to God about it. If it’s something you really want to do, ask Him to help you with the process of follow through. You will never learn to walk in integrity until you learn to trust Jesus to help you do it. Even the smallest detail-take it Jesus.

God, I’m not so good with this whole consistency thing, God. I’ve told a lot of lies and burned a lot of bridges and honestly, I don’t know how to have follow through. I need you to teach me. Help me to be consistent. Help me to speak truth, even when it’s hard. Help me to learn how to not make promises I can’t keep. Teach me to be committed to not only you, but to this recovery process and all of the hard changes that must come as a result of that.