Since The Gospel of Yes has come out, a few of my friends have joked that they don’t have jobs where they can rewrite their job descriptions to focus on those things they do best. They live in the “real world” where somebody else makes all of those decisions.
OK, I’ll be the first to admit I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in. Our church takes the gifts of our members very seriously and we always try to put people in places of service where those gifts can be maximized.
But I told that story to make a point and that point was this: too many of us end up doing things we aren’t good at and that we don’t enjoy because we make decisions for the wrong reasons.
I know every job – every aspect of life – has things about it we don’t like. For instance, I love being a dad, but I hated changing diapers. Yet, loving my sons meant doing the “dirty work.”
That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about committing to things that keep us from focusing on what matters. We all do. We’re asked to serve on this committee or that board and we end up feeling trapped.
Have you ever felt trapped by any of the following?
- We don’t want to hurt somebody else’s feelings.
- We don’t want to be left out of something.
- We feel obligated.
- Everyone else is doing it.
We end up with a double frustration. First, we are tired (most Americans are sleep deprived) and second, we’re angry because we didn’t do the things most important to us. We don’t live out of our YES. Good is the enemy of the best. Sometimes, Satan wins his biggest victories when he gets Christians to focus on good things and not BEST things.
As the old story goes, you have to be sure the big rocks are in the jar first…
But most of us don’t know what our big rocks are. We don’t know because we don’t know our YES, and if we don’t know our YES the world is more than willing to fill our lives with stuff that doesn’t matter in the long run.
You can tell what matters by what you spend your time on. So, get out your calendar. Does the way you have allocated your time reflect your authentic priorities? Have you made time to say yes to your YES?
Here is a short list of the big rocks:
- As Christ followers, your first obligation is to create space for your relationship with Him. Is that on your calendar?
- If you’re married, your second priority is to your spouse. Where are they on the calendar?
- If you have children, they’re third. Do they have their proper time?
- Now, your career… but be careful… make sure you’re not being driven by the “tyranny of the urgent.”
- How about fun? Friends and things that bring energy back into your life? Yes, you have to be intentional about fun…
Too many of us make decisions without knowing we’re making them and then, we are frustrated by the results. Knowing your Yes in Christ focuses your life on the things that matter and matter eternally. When you say “yes” to your Yes in Christ, you will have to say no to something. The goal is to be sure you’re saying “yes” to those things that serve your ultimate commitments and “no” to everything else.
That’s something all of us can do. That’s something we all MUST do.
So, grab your calendar and take a look.
Are you saying yes to the right things?
… and no to everything else?
