So
here’s a confession, when I arrived here at First Austin I brought with me a
laundry list of to-do items that I had already signed up for and committed to
thinking that I would still be in Baton Rouge this year. This included the Duke
Divinity Leadership Program, becoming Chairperson of the CBF Ministry Council, and
writing a preaching and teaching commentary on John’s Epistles. These were all
things that easily fit into my schedule at my former church. However, here my
schedule has been a bit fuller and that little writing project that was
supposed to be halfway completed a few months ago was not even close.
I
tried to write it but everything I wrote was just awful and I felt like it was
not only not my best, it was not even good. I was not finding any joy in
studying or writing for the project and it was giving me no life. In fact, I
woke up on my day off dreading having to try and get a few more pages done. So
I did something very radical for me, I called the publisher and simply
explained how I was feeling, and then I told them the truth was I had taken on
too much and I should have said no sometime ago, that this was not the project
for me right now. The publisher said that someone had actually called a few
days ago that was interested in a writing project, and he would see if they
wanted it. They did, and I felt so wonderfully free.
Sometimes
freedom is just a few 'nos' and a bit of honesty away.
Moses
was a busy guy. He had a lot on his plate. He was
busy leading his people as they wandered in
the desert. Then,
as people do, they began
to have issues with one another. They went to
Moses, and he became
the judge that settled things, because leading
people to the Promised Land was not a big enough job.
By becoming judge, Moses took on another task and was quickly too busy, too worn down and stretched
too thin. You get the picture? Most of us live
lives like that. We live lives that are too
busy, and we are too tired to be any good to anybody. We say yes to too much, we try to
please everyone, we are stretched too thin, and we are worn down.
Moses’
father-in-law,
Jethro, took him aside and shared these words: “the
thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself
and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you, and you
cannot do it alone.” Let those words sink in.
I think if Jethro met any one of us today, he could
say the same thing about our activities.
So
stop. Learn that you can’t do everything or be everything
to everybody. Stop trying. Learn that life
demands too much of each one of us, and refuse
to give in. Remember that even Jesus did not have time to heal everyone
around him. Even Jesus said ‘no’ at times.
Choose the most important things and give your all.
Give your all to your children. Give your all to your spouse. Give your all to your God. Say no so that you can more
fully say yes.
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