“No” Is Your Biggest Yes

How clear are you on your mission? Are you one of those leaders who is trying to do everything?

I was. I wanted to have my hands in everything. I wanted to be part, an active member, in as much as I could. It was fun. It was exciting. But it was also exhausting, and it limited what ministry could happen. Because my time, energy and skills are limited, and I am not the best person to do most things. A few years ago I realized that if I was going to serve God over the long haul I needed to figure out what he had given me for a mission and start saying “NO” to everything else. This was difficult; I had to untangle myself from some things that had become complicated and had time invested in them. Then I had to stop long enough to listen closely and carefully to what God was speaking into my heart and align my will to His. My wife has been a big help. Doing this has given me the ability to say “no” to the things I am not called to and make room for the things I am called to. “NO” has become my biggest “Yes”. “NO” is allowing me to become the person God intended me to be.

Here are a few warnings for you, if you intend to work on this. First, you will feel like you are letting people down. You’re not.  You’re really making room for them to be who they are supposed to be. Second, you will feel like you are not accomplishing much. Again, not true. As you stick with it, you will realize that what you are accomplishing has more value and a greater effect than what you were doing before. Third, you will be tempted to go back to your old ways because they are familiar. Don’t. Stick it out, make the change permanent. In a few years when you look back at what you have accomplished you will be glad you did.

Learn “No”.

-Pastor Tim