Burn the Ships: A Call to Christian Commitment

I was reading a post on LinkedIn recently, and it was rather long. It had lots of great information, but one part of it jumped out to me and made me stop in my tracks. I found myself reading it over and over again.

It was: Too many people spend years asking, "What if this doesn't work?" But very few ask, "What could happen if I stopped giving myself permission to quit?"

Think about your past failures and your future plans. As leaders, as husbands, as fathers, as men, find some time to sit with the question we should have been asking all along: "What could happen if I stopped giving myself permission to quit?"

Did we fail because whatever the project was got too hard? Did we backslide because hurt, loneliness, or shame felt stronger than the power to pull ourselves out of it? Did we turn back to a favorite sin because we justified its place in our lives, that it’s just the struggle we will always have, like the thorn in Paul's side? Or did we never fully commit to the project in the first place because we were asking the first question instead of the second?

In 1519, Spain made it across the Atlantic Ocean to Mexico. Conquistador Cortes was credited with phrase, "Burn the Ships.” It meant there was no longer a plan B; they became fully committed to the cause. When retreat is no longer an option, forward progress becomes your only option; they were not going to give themselves permission to quit.‍ ‍

These takeaways apply to much more than a LinkedIn post. They can impact how you raise your future children, how you lead your future spouse, how you cultivate God's plan personally and globally, how you steward your finances, etc.

While Cortes is credited with saying, "Burn the Ships," our Lord and Savior put the principle in place when he said in Luke 9:26, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back if fit for service in the kingdom of God." A.K.A — Burn the ships!

So, sit in this question: How could being fully committed, without secretly holding on to your permission to quit, affect all areas of your life? It has the potential to change generations!

Your next step might be to throw away the permissions you have placed in your life that allow you to play it safe, avoid discomfort, and quit. You serve a mighty God who has bigger plans than you know, and He wouldn’t put it in front of you if He didn’t already know that you were up to the challenge!