Name: Chris Hagedon's review of Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
Item: Just Do Something
Rating: 4
Author: Chris Hagedon

Kevin DeYoung

Pastor DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. God has already revealed his plan for Christians' lives: to love Him and to obey His Word.

A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will

Just Do Something

Natalie 

So the end of the matter is this: Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and youll be walking in the will of God.

Pray for things that you already know are God's will. Pray for good motives in your decision making. Pray for an attitude of Erust and faith and obedience. Pray for humility and teachability. Pray for His gospel to spread. You know that He wants chese things in the world and for your life. Pray for them. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, as Jesus asked us to (Matthew 6:33).

Isn't it interesting that we are never told in Scripture to ask God to reveal the future or to show us His plan for our lives? But we are told-in no uncertain terms-to call out for insight and to cry aloud for understanding. In other words, God says, "Don't ask to see all the plans I've made for you. Ask Me fof wisdom so you'll know how to live according to My Book. 

put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and for God's sake start making some decisions in your life, Don't wait for the liver-shiver. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will, so just go out and do something.

The question God cares about most is not where should I live but “do I love the Lord of all my heart, soul, strength and mind and do I love my neighbor as myself?” it’s the second question that gets to the heart of God‘s will for your life. 

God's way is not to show us what tomorrow looks like or even to tell us what decisions we should make tomorrow. That's not His way because that's not the way of faith. God's way is to tell us that He knows tomorrow, he cares for us, and therefore, we should not worry.

God expects and encourages us to make choices, confident that He's already determined how to fit our choices into His sovereign will.

We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control. We are not gods. We walk by faith, not by sight. We risk because God does not risk. We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that's all we need to know. Worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God.

Our fascination with the will of God often betrays our lack of trust in God's promises and provision. We don't just want His word that He will be with us; we want Him to show us the end from the beginning and prove t us chat He can be trusted. We want to know what tomorrow will bring instead of being content with simple obedience on the journey. And so we obsess about the future and we get anxious, be- cause anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it gets here. 

We can stop pleading with God to show us the future, and start living and obeying like we are confident that He holds the future.

 Sometimes we go on a hunch or an intuition or a feeling. It's not necessarily bad to make nonmoral decisions based on our gut or feelings. What's bad is when we are slaves to this kind of subjectivism. So we never take risks because we never feel peace about them. Or we second-guess our decisions because we feel uncasy about them. The fact is, most big decisions in life leave us feeling a little unsettled. They are, after all, big decisions. When you decide to get married or move or buy a house, it will be scary because it's big and new and unknown and permanent (at least the marriage should be). But this doesn't mean the Lord's with- holding peace about the decision in order to get you to back out.

Aubrey Rutledge

Chris Hagedon

Chew Ai Lyn

It took me a while to understand what exactly the author was calling out and I realized he is calling out many different but related things. It also took me some time to evaluate when the author called out common practices or sayings by Christians - some of which I get where they are coming from (eg saying things like “God told me to..”). 

But that’s what I really appreciated about this book. It makes the rubber meet the road and 
modeled for me how to think more carefully about how much of what I do and say reflects the great doctrines given to us of God and Christ, what the Bible says about what God wills (our sanctification), how God guides and teaches us and how He would have us to seek wisdom in earnest - Scripture, seeking counsel, and prayer, how it is a whole way of life and not just for moments of dilemma. 

With certain phrasings I did think it could be taken the wrong way, though what the author says in other parts clarifies it not to be so: for example when making statements like “As you do these things (Live for God, obey the Scriptures, etc) do whatever else you like, with whomever you like…” (p. 120) sounded like other things are separate and not tied to living for God. 

But overall, it’s a well-written, relatively short and manageable read (especially with the short attention span folks like myself) with clearly laid out explanations for the author’s case. I found most value in his many caveats, hard to swallow but lovingly and simply written for the our wisdom and humble repentance. 

A few quotes:

“Sometimes when we pray to know the will of God, we are praying a coward’s prayer: “Lord, tell me what to do so nothing bad will happen to me and I won’t have to face danger or the unknown.” (p. 36) 

“Just because you pray doesn’t mean your decisions are beyond objection.” (p.47)

“God expects and encourages us to make choices, confident that He’s already determined how to fit our choices into His sovereign will.” (p.48)

“God is interested in more than getting us to follow His to-do list; He wants transformation. God doesn’t want us to merely give external obedience to His commands. He wants us to know Him so intimately that His thoughts become our thoughts, His ways our ways, His affections our affections. God wants us to drink so deeply of the Scriptures that our heads and hearts are transformed so that we love what He loves and hate what He hates.” (p. 90)

Aubrey Rutledge &
Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

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Aubrey Rutledge &Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

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Join the club

Aubrey Rutledge &
Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung