The First Step

Getting started is the hardest part. The passage from no momentum to having momentum is remarkably difficult, especially if initiating momentum signals that you are embracing a foreboding change. The greater the change, the harder it is to take the first step. Even if the status quo is not working very well, or is completely bankrupt, change can be threatening. Familiar routines, habits, and predictable outcomes are appealing. In fact, many people opt for the familiar even though it is broken. Covey has noted that doing again today, what you did yesterday, while believing you will get a different outcome tomorrow is a form of insanity. I don’t think he literally means “insane,” but when you sit down to think about it, such behavior is irrational at best.

Everywhere I look there is change occurring in the Believing community, and not just a little bit. The changes occurring are disruptive. Disruptive change is change that is so fundamental that returning to the status quo will never occur.

While there are convulsive reactions to these spiritual changes, I believe the disruption is a good thing. In fact, I think it is quite possible the disruption in the status quo is being driven by God.

All the indicators point to stagnation inside the church. Anecdotally, committed Believers are longing for their faith to be more relevant in their daily lives and are frustrated that they are not finding the organized church more facilitative of this desire. The disruption has already begun.

God wants to take us to a new place—His place. He wants to refocus us. He wants to disrupt the abnormalcy of spiritual apathy and return us to what Nee called the normal Christian life—a life of heart-to-heart connection with God that disrupts the status quo and propels us toward our spiritual desire to walk with God in His light.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? It’s the first step that is the hardest.

And what does the first step look like?

It is a prayer: “Father, take me where you are going. Tell me about yourself. I want to walk in the light.”

Here is a story about a man who stepped into the light.