It’s difficult to believe 2017 is half over. Winter and spring have come and gone and summer is in full swing. As we begin July and the second half of the year, let’s take a mid-year check-up.

At the beginning of January, I challenged us to make five commitments: Read the Bible on a regular basis. Attend corporate worship with other believers. Join a small group—a Sunday School class or a discipleship group. Serve others by using our God-given spiritual gifts and talents. Give generously of our finances, time, and resources.

How are we doing with these commitments? Are we making progress? All five of these practices are rooted in the Bible and all five are means by which we grow in our faith. If we feel spiritually stuck, it could be we are neglecting one of these practices. I’m convinced God desires for us to immerse ourselves in the Word, gather for worship with the church, experience community and accountability with a small group, give of ourselves for the benefit of others, and loosen our grip on our money.

If you are like me, nearly all of these practices are challenging and my own progress is painfully slow. (“Attend corporate worship” may be the exception for me. In my case, this one has built-in accountability!) Let’s think about each practice along with the common challenges and objections we occasionally hear.

Read the Bible. Some of us do not like to read or have grown accustomed to reading 140 character tweets, making in-depth Bible reading/study difficult. In an age of constant stimulation and distraction, reading the Bible seems boring and does little to quench our insatiable thirst for the pithy or sensational. Others of us find the Bible hard to understand and apply.

Attend corporate worship. Some of us do not like crowds or find “church” boring or outdated. We don’t sing songs we prefer or that we heard when we were young. The preaching is average or not relevant to our lives. Church cliques abound and we get tired of all the church drama surrounding those in the next pew over. Others of us just prefer to sleep-in on Sundays, watch our favorite preacher on TV, or commune with God under the shade tree in the backyard.

Join a small group. Some of us would rather remain a face-in-the-crowd and not subject ourselves to the dynamics of a smaller sized group. Corporate worship is more comfortable and less pressure! Attending Sunday School adds an extra hour to our Sunday morning commitment. Joining a discipleship group adds one or two hours on a weeknight or before work, not to mention all of the extra reading. Building relationships is messy and often the mess seems greater than the benefits.

Serve others. Some of us struggle with identifying our spiritual gifts while others believe we don’t have much to offer in terms of natural talent or giftedness. Our schedules are already crowded with other obligations that it’s difficult to find time to focus on people or things outside of immediate family and work. We’re tired when we get home and we do well to get dinner on the table and our children to bed at a decent time.

Give generously. Some of us have never given much thought to what the Bible says about financial stewardship and giving. Others find little room in our budgets to give more than a meager amount each month. The more honest among us will admit we like what our hard-earned money can buy—cars, homes, meals out, shopping, and weeklong vacations at the beach. (I do not believe any of these things are inherently wrong and all can be enjoyed to the glory of God. But sometimes the over enjoyment of these things or the accompanying monthly payments leave little room for financial generosity.)

As the saying goes, the struggle is real. Challenges and objections abound as we strive to live for Christ and honor God in our priorities. I’ve found in my life that obedience is rarely easy or convenient but it is always worth it. Do the benefits of obedience outweigh the sacrifices? One day we’ll know for sure. But for now, let us trust God enough to believe He knows what is best for us and let us obey Him joyfully and passionately.