I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13, ESV
We are a busy family with three kids and a dog. There is not a day where the kids don’t have something going on. There is track practice, drum and guitar lessons, and art classes. Mom and dad become a bus service with our minivan to take them to all the various places they need to be along with taking them to hang out with friends. Then there is church on Sunday morning.
My wife works part-time in our church school and makes sure that all is attended to at home. I serve as pastor of our church which is enough in itself. But if that is not enough I also serve as a regional Vice President for our Church denomination. Outside of church, I try to take time to post to this website. And in the last year, I have developed a love for videography and photography with my drone that gets me out early on Saturday mornings.
It is a lot. But I enjoy every minute of it. Still, it becomes very difficult to not take on too much. And there are some days where I feel I have done so.
I know I am not alone. A few years ago, my son was playing soccer. A game would start at 9 am and the coach would tell everyone to be there before 8:45 am. But when 9 am came around only about half the team was there and there would be a question if there were enough kids to play the game. Most of the time, a few more kids would trickle in by 9:15 am and the game would be able to be played. But this was not a one-time thing. This was a weekly occurrence. And we were paying good money to participate in the league. When the game was over, a few parents would be rushing their kids off the field to get to baseball practice or karate lessons, no doubt arriving late to those events too.
It was clear that some of these families had too much going on. They were so overcommitted that they couldn’t keep all their commitments. They were involved in many different things, but unable to be committed to any single one because of the competing priorities.
Think about that word priority. When you have priorities (plural), you no longer have a priority (singular). Your priorities become diluted. I recently took a meeting with some of our denominational leaders to give feedback on the denomination’s plan for mission. This plan included seven mission priorities. The first mission priority was to “plant, sustain, and revitalize churches.” There are already three things happening in that first priority. And there are still six priorities to go. My feedback was not to call these seven different things priorities. Maybe say these are things we do. But don’t call them all priorities. Otherwise, nothing is a priority.
The Apostle Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” This Bible verse is often taken out of context. It does not mean I can do everything. We have our limitations. We have limited time. We have limited resources. We have limited strength. There is no doubt that we serve an unlimited God. But God did not create us to do it all. He created us to do what he created us to do.
If you find yourself stretched and spinning your wheels, stop! Take some time to pray and ask for God’s wisdom to help you de-commit from things you should not have committed to in the first place. It might be hard because everything seems to be important. But ask yourself what is the most important.
The second thing is to honor the sabbath. Intentionally create time for rest. Make time to cease from activity. Rest so that you can give your time and energy to that which is God’s priority for you.
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