Tuesday Transformation

I'm really pumped about the Tuesday Transformation post this week and the one for next week as well. I've been learning some priceless principles through my journey back through the Old Testament and by reading the book called "It" by Craig Groeschel.

On a side note before I get started, I did really good on my "read one book a week" goal. In 5 weeks, I actually read 6 books. However, I wasn't retaining the information like I should, so I've decided to trim that back to 1 book every 2 weeks. This has been a welcomed changed as the concepts are staying with me much better. As a result of saying "No" to reading one book each week, I've actually said "Yes" to an increased amount of application. This leads to my thoughts for today...

"No" and "Yes." These are two words that are driven into our vocabulary at an early age. Even now, we're trying to teach Kaden to understand the meanings behind these words. However, here's a concern that God has brought to my attention here lately... As we get older and move into the more "advanced" and "busy" stages of life, we begin to say "Yes" a lot more than we say "No," and this is not always good. Let me explain...

We have the tendency to say "Yes" to every opportunity that comes our way. While we think this is healthy, and we've even told ourselves that Jesus would do everything for everybody, this feeling of having to always say "Yes" is actually unhealthy and unbiblical. The problem with constantly saying "Yes" is that by default we end up saying "No" to things that may be more important. If you are feeling overloaded and stressed out, you may need to re-establish your non-negotiables and cut away some of your negotiables.

As a follower of Christ, the Bible says I should love Him with all that I have. My relationship with Him must be my top priority. Every other area of my life is dependent upon me becoming more like Christ. Therefore, so that I can spend time with God on a regular basis, I have to say "No" to certain things. For example, I love spending time with God early in the morning. Therefore, I have to say "No" to sleeping the day away, and I have to say "No" to staying up late on a regular basis. What do you need to say "No" to so that you can say "Yes" to spending more quality time with God?

As a husband, dad, and pastor, I can already tell how so many pastors end up losing their family as they try to run around and meet the needs of ministry and of every single person in their church. Here's something I've learned and been told by mentors early on in my ministry: Don't convince yourself that everyone's situation is more important than the time you spend with your family. Maybe your not a pastor, so just place your job in place of mine, and think about what I'm saying. I can't lead my family if I'm not spending time with my family. I fully realize there must be sacrifices in ministry, but I simply won't neglect my family for 60-70 hours a week just so that I can say "Yes" to every demand from the church. By the way, if the church ever becomes that dependent on me, The Overflow will be in great, great danger! My job is to to be equipping and empowering others to do the work as well. (See Ephesians 4).

I hope you hear my heart and concern behind this post. Look, I want to be able to say that no one will be more focused and driven than me at doing what I do , but there will be boundaries about how much time I spend doing this. Sometimes, we have to work long hours simply because of our situations. Just don't let your pursuit of pleasing people and accumulating stuff be your motivation for saying "Yes" to everything that comes your way.

I once told some people I was working with in a church that they should learn to say "No" from time to time so that they wouldn't fall victim to the "church workaholic" culture that exists in so many churches. (You know, the principle that says 20% of the people do 80% of the work. From my experience, it's more like 10% do 90%.) However, after I said this, I was basically mocked by some of the people in the room, as if I wasn't being serious, and they couldn't believe what I had said.

Please, learn to say "No." Should we work hard? Yes! We should work with excellence and work as if we are working for God because we are! Just don't let that job work you to death! Don't let that program at church suck all the life and energy from you and your family because you are the only one who will do it. If a program is at that point, it's already dead, so quit giving it CPR and let it die! I can promise you there's something greater you could do for God than killing yourself just because you are afraid to say "No."