I was reading Proverbs 10 the other day, and a recurring theme seemed to show up in this chapter. Since you’re reading this blog, I know you are highly intelligent, so I’m sure you can spot the theme as well as I can…
If you have good sense, you will listen and obey; if all you do is talk, you will destroy yourself.
If you have good sense, it will show when you speak….
If you have good sense, you will learn all you can, but foolish talk will soon destroy you.
You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much—so be sensible and watch what you say.
Honest people speak sensibly, but deceitful liars will be silenced.
If you obey the Lord, you will always know the right thing to say….
I’d say the theme was pretty obvious, wouldn’t you?
But one question still remains: What are YOU going to do with this?
There was one daily offering that was necessary every day, then there were other offerings that were additional.
Here’s the principle:
Theadditional should never take the place of the necessary if the additional is crowding out the necessary.
There are some things that are necessary for me every day: my devotional time, my personal prayer life, time with my wife, time with my kids, and a few other necessaries.
There are some things that are additional for me: a church project, a community event, a committee or club. You get the idea.
There is nothing wrong with the additionalUNLESS the additional is crowding out the necessary.
What is necessary for you?What are the additional things you have added?
Always remember: The additional should never take the place of the necessary. If your additional is crowding out your necessary, it’s time to make some changes.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We all like “Yes.” That’s a nice word. But here’s the problem: By saying “Yes” to too many things we’re really saying “No” to many of the things we previously said “Yes” to.
Confused?
Let me try it this way. We all have only 24 hours in a day. No more; no less. We can all do a finite number of things during that 24-hour period. Some may be able to do slightly more, but even the most efficient people have a limit.
When we keep saying “Yes” over and over and over again, eventually our mouths are saying “Yes” but we cannot deliver. We’re out of time, out of resources, out of open places on our To Do list, out of patience, out of energy, out of money.
Perhapsthe best way to make your “Yes” mean “Yes” is to say “No.” To truly evaluate what is important, how much time you have, or how much money you have. And then say “No” to the things that you cannot truly commit to.
It’s hard to say “No.” But saying “No” more often will make your “Yes” so much more doable. Otherwise, your verbal “Yes” becomes an “I’ll try,” which eventually is a “Not really,” which in reality is a “No” anyway. So just say “No” upfront.
And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, “I’ll pray for you,” and never doing it, or saying, “God be with you,” and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say “yes” and “no.” When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong. —Jesus (Matthew 5:33-37 in The Message paraphrase)
You can make your “Yes” so much more powerful by only saying “Yes” to those things that are truly important. That means you will need to get comfortable with saying a loving, but firm “No” more often than you probably have in the past.
The dictionary defines an assassin as “one who murders by surprise attack.” No assassin worth his/her salt sends you an announcement to say, “I’ll be stopping by your office tomorrow morning to kill you. If that’s not a convenient time for you, please let me know.” Of course not! Assassins never tell you that they’re coming.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.”
So a “character assassin” is something that sneaks up and takes out the essential factor that could have made us successful and effective in life. This is why Deadly Viper Character Assassins is such a vital resource.
Here are the two pulls in my life:
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour [assassinate]. (1 Peter 5:8)
You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
If I keep our character intact, I’ve developed a foundation that will sustain me for the long haul. In my experience, here’s what I’ve done to keep developing my character:
Don’t wait until the assassin has already taken a shot at your character, but begin to protect yourself now. Continue to grow in the character Jesus Christ exhibited for us.
I was reading Proverbs 10 the other day, and a recurring theme seemed to show up in this chapter. Since you’re reading this blog, I know you are highly intelligent, so I’m sure you can spot the theme as well as I can…
Craig T. Owens 