No More

“There’s not enough time to get it all done.” Do you ever feel this way? Time management books, people who lead seminars, even your co-workers and friends probably communicate a different message, namely, that there IS enough time to get it all done and the reason you can’t seem to make it work for you is that you are doing the wrong things.  I have spent most of my existence on a quest for how to make all of life work in a neat little package.  I want to be the best at everything that I do. If I’m not hitting on all cylinders, I feel defeated. I’ve been on this journey for how to make life work because I’ve firmly believed that I had to get it all done. I have come to realize this week that it is just not possible — and that’s okay.

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, there is a story in the opening chapter that addresses these concerns.  The story speaks of four young men who have had their entire lives turned upside down.  They have been taken from their home, they are in exile in Babylon and they are having a new lifestyle forced on them.  They’ve had their names changed and their whole lives disrupted by new standards and expectations. 

In the middle of the first chapter, Daniel has to make a choice about eating the king’s food. In the middle of all the pressure to succumb to a long list of new expectations “Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king” — Daniel 1:8 NLT.  Daniel chose to say “no more.”  In doing so, he chose faithfulness to God and was blessed in the process.

Now, you and I face on a daily basis similar situations, not with food from the king’s table, but with our time. You and I have to decide daily who or what is going to be cheated and who or what is going to get our attention.  The choices that you make today will either bring you in line with life and the will of God, drawing you closer to His purposes, or they will move you further from Him.  I urge you, choose faithfulness to God.  Invest in the choices that fulfill God’s purposes in you.  And, for the rest, join Daniel in saying, “no more.”  Make no mistake, these are hard decisions to make but you, like Daniel, will find yourself blessed.

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