I like the famous story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare’s overly confident reliance on his speed captures my own tendency to live the Christian life in short, quick bursts, rather than living in slow, steady, constancy. The tortoise beat the hare, not because he was faster—he was much slower—but because he was steady and constant. The hare became the victim of his own talent and though he jumped out ahead of the tortoise at the beginning of the race, he eventually lost because he relied too much on his quickness and put no effort in to running a steady, constant race.
It is very easy to live the Christian life like this. To become frustrated over our lack of progress or fruitfulness and then in a sudden frenzy, plunge ourselves into a series of disciplines or resolutions, only to burn out shortly thereafter because we simply took on too much. I wonder how many people are already feeling the weight of their new year’s resolutions after only one week? Perhaps many, because they approached the new year as a sprint instead of a marathon. They did not pace themselves. They did not plan to be steady and constant. They didn’t start small. And they will eventually quit their resolutions altogether.
William Wilberforce offers us some excellent counsel in this regard. Counsel that I would recommend one copy down and in their journal, or tape on their computer screen, or their desk, or dashboard—some place that they would regularly see it. William Wilberforce lived from 1759 to 1833 and was an evangelical member of the British Parliament for the most of his life. John Piper writes, “He fought against the abolition of the African slave trade and against slavery until they were both illegal in the British empire.”* But not only did he immerse himself in the noble and Christ-honoring battle of slave abolition, he also consumed himself with many other good works, both individually and as a member of Parliament, involving himself in several initiatives for the social good of others.
But Wilberforce noticed something as he worked and labored. He realized the importance of steadiness and constancy in his endeavors. He wrote, “I daily become more sensible that my work must be affected by constant and regular exertions rather than by sudden and violent ones.”** What wisdom is in this short bit of counsel. Wilberforce encourages us to pursue a course of life that is characterized by ‘constant and regular’ exertions, rather than ‘sudden and violent ones.’
Perhaps this new year you started out of the gate with blazing speed, but are now finding that you are getting tired and worn down by your own resolutions. Perhaps you, in your zeal, resolved to read 15 chapters of the Bible a day, when you should have started with 5 chapters a day. Perhaps you resolved to evangelize 10 people a week, when it would have been more profitable to purposefully pursue one or two people. Perhaps you planned to read 50 books this year, when it would have been more realistic to plan to read 15 books this year. Perhaps you planned to visit the local shelter once a week, when it would have been better to plan for once every other week. Perhaps you committed to praying 1 hour a day when it would have been more promising to start with 15 minutes a day.
Certainly it would be wonderful to be able to be able to accomplish such great goals like 50 books in a year, or 15 chapters in the Bible a day, or weekly visitations at the local shelter, but it is better to start small and be steady and consistent, than it is to start off big, only to quit your resolutions one month into the year because of exhaustion and burnout. It is a reproach to start something without counting the cost and be unable to finish. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30).
Instead, this year, let’s seek to be ‘constant and regular’ with our work so that we might finish our course, and not be like the hare, who, at the end, endured the scorn of a race poorly run. Let’s count the cost and set reasonable resolutions so that we might continue in those resolutions all year long.
*John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 117.
**Piper, 12.
