What does it mean to follow through? The dictionary definition says: “to do something as the next part, or action for an activity or growth development, in order to complete something.” So many of us make plans and goals and never follow through on them. We all wish we would follow through, it would so improve our “batting average” in life. It would also help to finish things well.
“Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.” (2 Corinthians 8:11)
In this passage, Paul urges the Corinthians to complete their intended generous act. The readiness to do good is commendable, but it is the actual performance and completion of the act that fulfils its purpose.
This verse speaks to the heart of follow-through: the need to see commitments through to completion, reflecting the sincerity and depth of one’s intentions.
Six Reasons why we don’t follow through?
- Our beliefs are often disconnected from our actions
Just ask yourself, “Is what I am doing right now, in line with what I believe? Very often we find ourselves doing things that are not actually what we planned to do or even want to do. Our walk does not reflect our talk. As our beliefs have changed, we did not follow through and make the necessary changes in our behaviour.
A prime example of this is in our bible reading. Many of us suffer from a type of spiritual boredom or stagnation in our spiritual walk, because we don’t creatively implement what has been revealed to us in scripture. We believe what we have learnt from scripture, but we don’t follow through in the actions and changes of behaviour that we take on. James 1:22-25
Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.
Sometimes we delay the implementation of the word in our lives because the changes we are asked to make are hard. We give intellectual ascent to the need for change but still avoid it. We become that man who looks into the mirror of God’s word and walks away from it unchanged. James 1:22-25
- A lack of self-discipline
Proverbs 12:27 The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.
The lazy man did go out and hunt, but he didn’t bother finishing the job and roasting it. Whereas the diligent (disciplined man) who prizes his possessions, he disciplines himself, (despite the long day in the sun, despite physical exhaustion) to do what is necessary to look after his possession. He will roast his game because of the value he places on it.
Our self-discipline is often linked to what we value within ourselves. Zig Ziglar said: “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
Sometimes, following through, requires work on our character in the form of self-discipline, which means to manage yourself for a greater good. Instead of enlarging yourself, so that you are capable of more, it is easier to limit ourselves to what we can do, to reduce our aspirations and not follow through, because we don’t want to do the work on our character in the form of self-discipline.
- Our Personality type.
Some personality types find it easy to push through, others are more passive. But your personality type is not an excuse for not being able to follow through. The whole point of personal growth, is to discipline and train yourself to move beyond the limitations of your personality, to do what does not come naturally to you. Yes, not following through may be part of your personality, but it is a weakness not a strength.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor 9:24-27)
- Trials and hard times will cause us not to follow through
“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering… So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,‘In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’ ‘But my righteous[b] one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’” (Hebrews 10:32, 35-38)
In other words, get up and run your personal race of faith, don’t slow down or stop, you need a “stick-it-outed-ness” that perseveres through difficulty. Allowing trials and hard times to distract you from you goals to indulge your flesh and consequently not follow through, will result in you setting aside your goals in hard times and never picking them up again.
- We become tired and impatient
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9)
When we allow ourselves to get fatigued, we tend to look at unfinished tasks, find them overwhelming and opt out. Sometimes the exercise is not so much about “finishing well” as “finishing!” Often, there is so much we want to do, wish we had done, which we had time to do, but even that which we have in our hand to do, we do not finish. We focus on the urgent and not priority and then are too tired to do what is important.
Impatience also plays a role when we start with something with enthusiasm, expecting quick results. But as time goes on and we don’t get the results we desired; our impatience causes us to step out of it. Take prayer, for example, we set out to have a regular prayer time, but when we are slow to get the results we are believing for, we step out of our prayer time.
- We wait for God or people to come through for us, to do it for us.
We are like the man in John 5:3-7 lying next to the pool of Bathesda for 38 years. His excuse: “I have no one to help me.” We often don’t take responsibility (or ownership) for our own lives, taking the initiative for change. We wait for other people to do it for us. Faith is an active not passive thing. One has to step out and give God something to work with. For example, say you want to buy a house, so you wait for God to create an opportunity to buy a house. But in the meantime, we never apply for a loan to see what we qualify for, never look at adverts for houses, or even go look at houses to see what is in the market. We don’t own our goals but wait for other people , or circumstances to change or make it happen.
“Get up and get dressed. Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the last moment. Dress yourself in Christ and be up and about!” (Rom 13:14)
God, by His nature is one who follows through, who finishes what He started. God’s perseverance in His plan for each believer is the divine model for our follow-through.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
Just as God is faithful to complete His work, Christians are called to be steadfast in their commitments and follow through. Examine yourself:
- What is preventing you from following through on your plans and goals?
- How has your thinking and convictions not matched your actions?
- What change are you going to implement and how?
Even this blog will require follow through to work on your ability to follow through! God knows that we find it difficult, so commit this to the Lord and ask for His help.
Father, thank you that You have plans for me, that You are at work in my heart and mind. Help me to follow your example and be at work with what You have placed on my heart to do. Help me to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and help me to develop the self-discipline to follow through, push through, stick-it-out until the end. Help me not to allow exhaustion, self-pity or impatience to weigh lay me, causing me to become distracted and opting out. But instead, fill me with courage and determination born out of the Spirt working in my life so that I may walk the path that you have set out for me in such a way as to glorify Your name.
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