That'll do!

Do you remember getting school projects? Most of the time they were pretty boring!! At other times they were downright uncool!!!
Take the time in Primary School when I was asked to do some knitting for my project!! ME? Knitting? You must be joking! I was into football, cricket, rugby, playing army men, and blowing up dogs; knitting was strictly for the girls. I also remember once doing a cross-stitch for a school project – how embarrassing.
There were, however, other times when I actually did projects I enjoyed, like building a model of the solar system or making a chair in woodwork class.
Sometimes I would start a project with loads of enthusiasm, then after realising it wasn’t going to be as quick as I had originally thought, I would start to take short-cuts and end up making the famous old statement, “that’ll do!”
Mal Fletcher writes in his book ‘Get Real’, ‘Have you ever seen a dog climbing Mount Everest for the kicks? How about a fun-crazy cat parachuting from a plane at twenty thousand feet? OR a horse bungee jumping? How about a very fit chicken running for Olympic glory? No?’
‘Few people have, and there’s very good reason for this: only human beings are built for heroism. Oh sure, Lassie is one notable exception, but by and large we Homosapiens have cornered the market on adventurism. Every one of us wants to achieve something memorable and significant.’
It’s true, only humans have the inbuilt ability to be heroes. But heroism doesn’t come cheap or easy. To be a hero, you have to put everything into what you do to be the best you can be.

Imagine what the Bible would be like if the ‘that’ll do’ attitude was all through it. In fact, let’s imagine we’ve written a translation of the Bible called "The That’ll Do International Version!”
Imagine what the Bible would be like if God had said, “That’ll do” when He was creating the world. Every animal would have looked like a brown horse! I mean, horses are alright, but imagine trying to put a horse in a hamster cage - and how would you eat omelettes??? Eggs come from a chickens butt (nearly!?!) – I am telling you, I ain’t eating anything from a horses butt! The Bible would read something like;
In the beginning God made the heavens and the horse! Now the earth was formless and void, but God created the horse and said, “That’ll do!” Now the horse was more crafty than any other horse. The horse whispered to Eve, “Eat the apple, and while you’re at it, give me some too, I am famished!” or we would read about Jesus being the Horse of God!
Noah could have said “That’ll do” and immediately regretted building…’a canoe’ after it had been raining for a few days! It would read something like…..So Noah thought, “Blow that for a pot of honey! I am gonna built a canoe. I’ll put my wife and horse in it, but my sons are pretty good swimmers – they should be fine!”
Nehemiah could have said; “That’ll do!” and only built half of the walls around Jerusalem! It would read something like…“Ouch!!! I’m tired of hitting my thumb with the hammer!!! Hey fellas, forget it! Let’s play football instead, and when the enemies come, we’ll challenge them to a game instead of defending the city!”
David could have said, “That’ll do!” and ran off when he saw that Goliath was bigger than a brick toilet. It would read something like…“Holy cow, I didn’t think he was that big! Hey Saul, why didn’t you tell me he was that big! How can he be so big? I have never seen anyone so big! I’m outta here!”
Daniel could have said, “That’ll do!” when he was in the lions’ den, and then let the lions eat him! (If you want to know what lions look like when they are eating, go to a youth camp sometime. Dinnertime is like feeding time in the lion pit, although – the lions probably have more etiquette! (If you don’t know what etiquette means, you have proven my point!!!)) It would read something like…..“Hey fellas, if you’re gonna eat me, that’s cool, but can we get this over with quick?”
Hosea could have said, “That’ll do!” and let his wife be a prostitute for the rest of her life. (That got your attention didn’t it? AND NO, I am not telling you where you can read about that one!! and no I ain’t gonna translate it either!)
The four friends who carried the paralytic to Jesus could have said, “That’ll do!” when they saw that the room was crowded, but they didn’t. They started a demolition firm instead! It would read something like…….“Hey Mack, we had a go, sorry to get your hopes up, but look on the bright side; there’s a great kebab shop around the corner. Let’s get one – extra hot!”

Jairus could have said, “That’ll do!” when he saw that his daughter had died, but instead he went in search of Jesus. It would read something like…….“Oh well, such is life!”

Peter could have said, “That’ll do” and never have been the first man to water ski – barefoot!! It would read something like;
“Me? Walk out there? You’re joking aren’t you? I can’t even walk straight on land, let alone out there, on the water, in a storm!”

Jesus could have said, “That’ll do!” when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, but instead went all the way and died on a cross for you and me. Without that one act, life would be an absolute tragedy!!
It would read something like…..
“Me and pain don’t do too well together. I am not used to it where I am from. So Peter, you can die instead of me. Ok? Any questions?…….”

Paul could have said, “That’ll do!” when the jailers were beating the stuffing out of him. He could have said, “I can’t be bothered with this Jesus stuff!” and not written half of the New Testament. It would read something like……
“Fair crack of the whip fellas, I am trying to write the Bible here, give me a moment! What was that? If I stop writing, you’ll give me a time-share apartment in Crete? Deal! Thanks boys – I’m outta here!”
God could have said, “That’ll do!” when it came to Him helping you. It could have read…..“You are all a bunch of losers, save yourself!!”
But instead He:
“Devises ways so you can be in a relationship with Him” (2 Samuel 14:14) “Reaches down from heaven, to pick you up and make you great” (Psalm 18)
“Died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
And there are 1000’s more verses like it!
And what about history? If people had said, “That’ll do” in history, we wouldn’t have: Peanut butter, The light-bulb, The internet, Racial equality, The Simpsons, Football, Cars, McDonalds, Playstations, TV, The chair you’re sitting in, The clothes you’re wearing, In fact, pretty much everything we see!!
So then; why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, do we say, “That’ll do!” so much in life? Maybe the devil has something to do with it. If I was the devil, I would always be whispering to you, “That’ll do”, so that you always settle for average, instead of realising the power and creativity of God within you to do amazing things!!
Imagine what your life would become if you aimed to do your best in everything and decided never to think or say, “That’ll do!”……………..Life would be awesome! You would be able to achieve absolutely everything God has ordained for your life.


Extract taken from my book – “If I was the Devil” – 2004, Sovereign World Publishing. www.liveaudacious.com