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It’s important to say ‘no’ sometimes

James Thomas - Tuesday 10 February 2015

If you are like me, you struggle to say ‘no’. No to tasks, email, TV, people, meetings…

Attempting to say ‘yes’ to everything that happens to come your way may seem noble, however the result is that everything suffers. You may do a good job at a lot of things, but never a great job.

The difference between saying ‘yes’ to everything and deliberately selecting what to say ‘yes’ to is like the difference between watching broadcast TV and video on demand. With broadcast TV others decide what you watch when, while with video on demand you decide what you will watch and when you will watch it. I often feel as if I have wasted my time after watching broadcast TV, however after watching a DVD on a Sunday night with the family I usually feel it was a good time spent together. One viewing experience is aimless, and the other is purposeful.

Are you in control of your activities? Saying ‘yes’ to everything means that you are leaving it up to others to determine how you spend your time/energy/money, life is unpredictable, and you rarely finish the things you should in a timely fashion.

Martha thought that she was doing the best thing by being busy serving. However Jesus points out that her sister Mary had chosen what really mattered, listening to Him. (Luke 10:38-42)

What is it that God has you here for? What is it that is really worthwhile? Where should you be fully investing your time and effort? To be fully devoted to the answers to these questions it will be necessary to say ‘no’ sometimes.

There are times when it is best to say ‘yes’. We need to help those in genuine need. We need to say ‘yes’ to God. We need to put other people’s needs before our own. The Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24) teaches us that there is a time when we absolutely need to say ‘yes’ even if it is interrupting whatever we are doing.

Leslie Samuel says it well in his video “It's More Important To Say No Than To Say Yes”. Join me in saying ‘no’ more often so that we don’t merely do good things, but achieve great things for God’s glory.