The Only Way Is Through

The athletic wear company Under Armour started a major ad campaign this year with the message The Only Way Is Through. I love it.

So many people give up because the going gets hard. Athletes like Stephen Curry, Michael Phelps, and Tom Brady are here to tell you to keep pressing on because The Only Way Is Through.

I’ve been thinking about how this idea relates to our life as followers of Christ. We run into many obstacles, face many challenges, and experience many hardships. The question is not whether we will encounter such things. The question is whether we will press in and press on through them.

The problem is, we don’t believe The Only Way Is Through. We believe in work-arounds, short-cuts, and full-stops. When the going gets tough, we often fail to persevere. Maybe it’s a relationship. Maybe it’s a job. Maybe it’s your family or church. It’s hard to keep on.

When the going gets tough, we often fail to persevere.

Not trying is easier. Giving up is easier. Leaving is easier. If you can’t leave, you feel stuck, stuck thinking about what you want but don’t have. You don’t have that phone, that car, that boyfriend or girlfriend. You feel like your family is messed up, or your church is in shambles. I’ve been there.

You believe you’re missing out on something out there. Maybe your friends don’t understand. Your parents don’t understand. God, perhaps, doesn’t understand. What should you do?

First, a caveat: If you are facing any sort of abuse, please ask for help. There’s no excuse for someone mistreating you in any kind of coercive or abusive relationship. It’s not wrong to tell someone about what is going on. You will be safer for it, and that’s absolutely the right thing to do. Faithfulness often looks like speaking up, asking for help, and righting wrongs.

That being said, most of us face other challenges, things that frustrate our plans and make us disappointed in ourselves or in other people. It’s so much easier to move on than push through.

James writes in the New Testament about the person who is like “a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind…a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5-8) We tend to be like that – tossing and turning, double-minded, and unstable. Faithfulness doesn’t come easy.

But God doesn’t leave you there. Just as Jesus reached down to grab Peter’s hand as he was sinking into the sea, so also Jesus is reaching out to you today. Here are three simple truths to give you the courage to respond and walk faithfully with Jesus.

1. OUR God is faithful.

2. We are called to be faithful.

In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, Paul calls us “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” He continues, “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”

Faithfulness doesn’t come easy. It’s a high calling for us as Christians. We’re charged to follow in the footsteps of Christ. He was faithful even to the point of death. What are we willing to endure to be faithful to Christ?

We are so quick to be offended, quick to be disappointed, quick to judge what good could come (or not come) of a situation. Will we be a good and faithful servant? Or will we be a wave that is driven and tossed by the wind?

Consider the words of Christ from Luke 16:10: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.” Where is God calling you to be faithful? Daily reading His Word? Listening to and applying the weekly sermon? Investing in a relationship with a sibling or friend who you’ve been struggling to get along with? What does it look like to be faithful in little and faithful in much?

3. God equips YOU TO BE FAITHFUL. 

If you’re feeling like this call to faithfulness is a burden, receive this encouragement: God Himself will help you. Hebrews 10:23 tells us why we can hold fast: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Our faith is not in our faithfulness but in God’s. Paul encourages us, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Where have you been placing your confidence? In yourself? In the future? Where is your hope? Hope in God. Trust in His faithfulness. He will equip you to do every good work to which you are called! (2 Corinthians 9:8)

“The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

God raised up prophets to call a generation back to God. Now we too have received the call. Will we faithfully walk with Jesus? Will we be faithful in little? Will we trust His faithfulness to help us every step of the way? What will we do? Remember, The Only Way Is Through, so be faithful. Press on.

Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of TeenPact Leadership Schools. To learn more about our Vision & Values, please visit teenpact.com/vision-values/.