Your yes and no

Believe it or not, even people who have decided to live generously are allowed to say 'No'. Great, so we can get out of stacking the chairs at church now? Not exactly. In the last two days, we looked at God's heart for renovation: of us and ultimately the world. Today, let's look at how we still need checks and balances in our God-given mandate to help God make the world a better place.

We can find ourselves in the Christian habit of saying 'Yes' to just about everything we get asked to do, especially when it's at church. Let's get one thing straight, making ourselves available to serve is a great thing: in fact, the Bible says God honours anyone who serves Jesus (John 12:26). But when we say 'Yes' to too many things, we're in danger of giving a half-hearted effort and being less effective. Our priorities become out of whack, and it's our own time with God that usually suffers the most.

If we really do want to press on toward God's goal for us (see Philippians 3:14), we must make sure we're not going to burn out. Reaching out always takes effort. Let's use our Spirit-led desires to discern what we need to say 'Yes' to and what we need to put on a back burner, or even turn down completely.



So what now? Encourage a generous friend today. Take them for coffee and steer the conversation towards how they're doing. Make sure they're not saying 'Yes' to more than they should.





— SCRIPTURE —

'I press on toward the goal...for which God has called me.' Philippians 3:14 NIV
— SOULFOOD —

Eze 16:53-19:14, Matt 22:1-14, Ps 103:13-22 , Pro 19:17