Tips and Encouragement

Tips: What’s the best way to save some additional time for what’s important? Learn to say "no."

It’s such a small word, but it’s often so hard to say! As we’ve seen in this issue of Transformations, making wise use of our time is a key way to honor God. And as Cynthia and I have learned over the years, being able to say “no” is crucial to keeping us focused on what God is calling us to. Thousands of opportunities, most of them good things, will try to pry us away from our core calling.

I can recall a time early on in our marriage when Cynthia and I were asked to speak to a youth group about relationships. Neither of us felt terribly called to give this talk, but the “sales pitch” we received was so persuasive that we did it despite our inclination that this was not where we were best suited to serve God. We should have just said “no.” Perhaps some of those kids got something out of it, but my guess is that it was another forgettable youth group talk. Despite the great coercion from the youth pastor to get a slot filled, we should have followed our gut, lovingly declined, and stuck to our calling.

Serving God with our time is a critical part of being a good steward of all God has entrusted to us. However, if you are like me, I’m sure you experience no shortage of demands for your precious time. Whether it’s the PTA, another service team at church, or one more kid’s event, learning to say yes to the right opportunities and no to those things that would divert us from God’s call is a key skill we all need to develop to enjoy abundant life in Christ. Jesus said, Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. And it’s OK to say no!

Need more hours in your week? Here’s a practical way to perhaps add anywhere from five-to-forty hours to your week, depending on your viewing habits. Attempt a complete fast from television and movies for one week. This may sound radical, I know, but our family has done this several times over the years, and we’ve always found it to be a very rewarding exercise.

Use that extra time to do all those things you’ve wanted to do—catch up on your reading, organize your finances, take a spiritual retreat, study up on the growing evolution/intelligent design debate, or hit the exercise room. Pray about how God would have you use your new-found time.

We’re not trying to be obnoxiously religious about this or anything. The goal is to get a fresh perspective for how we can best honor God with the days and hours we have.

Anyone want to join me in this challenge to reallocate some of our time? I’ll commit to taking the TV fast from October 1 to 7, 2008. Please let me know if you plan to try this. I’d love to share in the next Transformations newsletter some of your responses of how this impacted you and your family. Please send observations to: matt@abundantlivingministry.org.