Christian Living
Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday March 30, 2010
A few years the term "Tough Love" became famous and many who really did not understand the real meaning of the term went ballistic, because In America nothing is supposed to be tough. Others misused the idea to brutalize children or in a few cases parents suffering diminished capacity. There is at least one thing, actually one word in our language that is even tougher than "tough love."
No.
Learning when to say no seems like such a simple utterance, yet careers, marriages, entire lives are ruined due to a failure to say no and stick to this decision.
When I was a young and ignorant preacher (now I am older) I exuberantly screamed YES to every opportunity that was thrown my way. I was very busy. I really didn't accomplish much, but I was busy. I was like the man Zig Ziglar told about who rushed up the ticket counter at the airport rapidly shouting, "Give me a ticket, give me a ticket, and hurry up." The dignified woman behind the counter, leaned over, and with a rather "uppity" look, asked, "And where do want to go and what time?" Our man Friday shouted, "I don't care I have business everywhere!" I was far busier than real business demanded, but I was very important in my own mind.
Brian Tracy, noted motivational speaker made a statement that every Christian should give serious thought to:
"Say no to anything that is not a high value use of your time and your life."
As Ben Franklin noted time is the essence of life and he was right.
Several years ago I offended a man whom I like. I did not intend to offend him, but I had made a serious resolution to say no to invitations that took too much time. This man invited me to lunch and experience taught me this would be a three hour deal and at the end of it I would as before say, no. He was forever trying to involve me in some sort of get in early, get all your friends involved and we will all be rich. At the time I was already pretty well off and was not interested in involving friends in his schemes. So, I saved three hours at least by saying no and saved him considerable money. My no helped me in three ways; it contributed to keeping the weight down, saved three hours and I accomplished quite a bit of work. I still feel good about that no and many others like it over the years. Paul teaches us in to make our time count in Ephesians 5:16:
"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit
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