Impractical and Hard

Be impractical. 
I left this last weekend with those words. No one actually said them. No one even implied them. In fact, quite the opposite. People preached otherwise almost. But the thing is, something needs to change.
We need to be impractical. We need to do hard things.
That was my second thought.
Do hard things.
I've heard it so many times in my life. People I listen to preach it constantly. I've seen people do them, those hard things. But the truth is, until you hear a story that resonates in the very center of your heart in a way that crushes everything you ever hoped about the people you know, and you know that they messed up, you will never actually understand what it means to do hard things. Hard things are hard. Can you just think about that for a second? Please. Hard things are hard. They are scary. They are difficult. They take effort. They are impractical. They might even be dangerous. Hard things are hard.
But we're still supposed to do them.

I spent the other day in the kitchen, my hands pressed into the soft dough for brioche pretzels, and I thought about the gospel.
The gospel is a hard thing.
It is impractical. Sometimes it takes time to preach it. Because the gospel is not just words. It is action. It's true that Jesus saves souls. I cannot save someone's soul. I can't do that. It's impossible for me. I can't even convince someone to be saved. Jesus saves souls.
Jesus changes hearts.
But we're supposed to change lives.
I think it is hard for people to get that concept. We want to be good Christians in comfortable houses with white walls and dutch ovens and nice dinner parties with the church family over constantly and read easy books like Ephesians because that book applies to us here and now with our petty problems and not dirt. But there are other books of the Bible. Job and Hosea exist too. Hard lives exist too.
I don't want a lazy gospel. I said that as I pulled and twisted my pretzels and pressed chocolate into them. And it was hard for me to admit that. Because I like comfort. I like warmth and good food and joy and singing and things.
I don't always like dirt, but I don't want a lazy gospel.
I want the real gospel. The living, breathing, heart beating, aching, suffering gospel of Jesus Christ who changes the hearts but gave me the hands and voice and feet and ability to change the lives.
I want the hard gospel.
The real one.

I want to be impractical.

And never, never will I preach the word of Jesus Christ to someone and leave them in despair after.
That is a false gospel.
That is wrong.

Philippians 4:13

I am going to finish some easy things now, namely painting. But these will prepare me for the hard ones someday.