I’ve heard people say, “The hardest part is getting started.” I can see how that could be true in some cases.
Sometimes you have to overcome the inertia of thinking about something and just get on with the doing.
However, I think there’s also some truth to the idea that it can be easier to start something than to finish it. Every time we would drive to Dallas, we’d watch for an old house on the way that was started and never finished.
The house next door to where we live now sat for a long time as a frame on a slab and nothing else. Both houses got started, but when difficulties came, all progress ceased.
When Jesus told the parable of the soils, how many of the four soils got off to a good start? Not one, but two!
The rocky soil “is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy” (Matt. 13:20).
For some, the beginning is great! It’s what comes after that that’s a challenge. I’ve never been worn out by starting a race. It’s finishing that tests your endurance.
Jesus said of the rocky-soiled heart, “yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he falls away” (vs. 21).
At the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
We begin in faith, and we run in faithfulness. Don’t just get started. Finish your race.
…Kevin Hahn
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