Get Off the Couch | Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
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People often suspect I’m several years older than I actually am. It could be due to the rapidly retreating hairline, or the four kids and 10+ years of marriage. Or the dark circles under my eyes at any given moment. Although I think that’s just a natural byproduct of having four daughters who all think they’re old enough to have opinions about things.
Anyway, I don’t often get pegged with the “millennial” badge that my generation has come to so fondly embrace. And that’s okay, I’m totally fine with that. I don’t fit the mold, generally, and I like it that way. So, as I was thumbing through the pages of this one, I found myself quite often saying “Yeah! Get ‘em, pastor DeYoung!”
But, truth be told, as disconnected as I think I am from the millennial generation (I cannot overstate this point. I honest-to-goodness have to ask my wife to help me with emojis regularly.) I still found myself convicted at moments. And I think you will, too. Because although this point takes aim pretty strongly at the epidemic of indecision in my generation, it also highlights some things that I think we all struggle with sometimes.
The overall theme of the book is centered around how to make decisions for yourself without relying on a holy-skywriter from heaven spelling out every answer for you.
DeYoung spends a significant amount of time in the book reminding us that covering our lives and decisions in prayer is always a good thing, but that ultimately, we’re incapable of thwarting God’s will, so we should stop stressing ourselves out by looking for an answer on things like where to live, where to go to school, who to date, etc, and Just Do Something.
Interestingly enough, this book has been on my “to-read” list for a while.
About a year ago, I had a friend approach me about an opportunity to come work with him in Arizona. There were a ton of positives about this move. But there were also a ton of things that had me worried about leaving home.
I labored over it for weeks. I talked to Katie about it, I prayed about it, I asked friends about it. All along hoping and praying that at some point God would send me someone or some word that would just tell me exactly what to do.
It was during this time I was relaying these thoughts and feelings to my friend, and he told me to check out this book. I didn’t read it then, and ultimately things didn’t pan out in that direction, but now that I’ve read it, I understand how perfectly applicable it was. And DeYoung speaks pretty directly to circumstances just like this.
The job I was looking at wasn’t in an industry or company that ran against my beliefs, it wasn’t in a location without a church body to join, ministry opportunities existed there just as they do here, ultimately there was nothing immoral about making that move. As DeYoung explains, in these situations, God probably doesn’t much care which direction you choose. That’s not to say God doesn’t care about us, or what happens to us, or anything like that, but rather, as long as your decisions are informed by the wisdom gained through scripture and the counsel of wise friends, then you’re already within God’s will on those things.
You don’t need to kill yourself looking for just the exact right verse affirming your choice before you make it.
Overall, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Especially on the heels of our previous book recommendation, Don’t Waste Your Life. The two together make a powerful one-two gut punch. Piper reminding us that our sole purpose on this Earth is to live a life glorifying to God, and DeYoung teaching us how to live a more decisive life (and ultimately also quit wasting it).
It’s a super quick read, and there are some good study questions in the back as well in case you are interested in walking through it with a friend or young person in your life.
Are you feeling stuck? You might need to Just Do Something.
