It Is Not Enough to Do

One of my favorite books is Jubal Sackett by Louis L’Amour (shoutout to my sister who got me hooked). It’s an adventure about a young explorer traveling across early America in the 1600s. L’Amour has this rare gift—he can tell a story that keeps you turning the pages while slipping in lines that hit your soul like truth itself.

There’s one line from Jubal Sackett that’s stayed with me ever since I first read it. I remember exactly where I was: September 2021, sitting by myself in the Rocky Mountains, a 45-minute drive from the University of Northern Colorado, where I had just transferred. It was one of my off-days from baseball. I opened the book and read these words:

“It is not enough to do; one must also become. I wish to be wiser, stronger, better. This” I held out my hands “this thing that is me is incomplete. It is only the raw material with which I have to work. I want to make it better than I received it.”

I must’ve read those lines a dozen times over. At the time, I had just left a college I loved, my team, my friends, my family were close by. Everything made sense there. But I knew deep down I needed to step out. I told myself it was for baseball, but it was something deeper. There was an ache in me, a longing not just to do more, but to become more.

Because life was good. But good can still be incomplete.

For much of my life, I’ve felt that Jesus speaks to me through reading. Not just scripture but other books I have read. To me this was one of those moments. L’Amour put to words things that I had been thinking about but couldn’t quite put the thoughts together. Exposing some complacency I didn’t know what there. Stirring fear that I wasn’t enough but also pointing me towards how I could be pursing more.

When I made that move, life didn’t get easier. It got harder. Since then, I’ve failed more times than I can count. My body has failed me. My mind has failed me. My spirit has been broken and rebuilt again and again. I’ve found myself at the feet of the Father, confessing that this thing that is me, it’s still incomplete. But it’s being made new.

So often in life, we satisfy ourselves with good (our definition of good not the Creator’s definition). And maybe for a time, that’s okay. But we are not called to just be good; we are called to righteousness. I don’t want to leave this life a good man. I want to leave a righteous man. But it’s not about me building myself into something better. Rather pursing Christ and letting Him shape me into what He intended all along.

So I say all that to say this:

Challenge yourself. Stop being comfortable. Not in the cliché “be comfortable being uncomfortable” kind of way, but stop being the same. There’s no fancy formula, no gimmicky course to purchase and follow. Just be honest with yourself. Ask: What roles am I currently carrying? What feels hard? What feels heavy with guilt? What lies do I believe? What do I emotionally and spiritually wrestle with? What keeps me restless at night?

And also, what do I long for? What kind of impact do I want to make on those around me? What gives me hope?

You might not know what’s coming next—but that’s where becoming happens.

This thing that is us is unfinished, so we shouldn’t just take our ball and go home. May we never stop becoming what Jesus has called us to be.

Scripture References

• Philippians 1:6

• Romans 12:2

• 2 Corinthians 5:17