Today’s devotion is based on Week 1 of “Tough Love”: Sets boundaries! (WATCH HERE)
Perhaps one of the toughest things to do is to say “No” to someone you love and care about. Perhaps some situations are easy. To the teenager who wants to go to a party with lots of drinking and drugs, “No. No you can’t.” To a job that will pay less and move you to a part of the country you have no desire to live? “No, sorry I will not accept that offer.”
But often times saying “No” is hard.
To the toddler having a fit in the middle of a busy store. Do you give in or say “No”?
To the impulse to stop at Sonic and buy a milkshake in the middle of a diet plan? Do you say “No” to yourself?
Sometimes the implications are minor for not saying “No.” However sometimes the in ability to say “No” somethings prevents us from saying “Yes” to important things.
Here’s Jesus teaching in Matthew 6:
Matthew 6:31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
It is hard to say “No” to worry because it’s hard to say “No” to all the material, worldly things we focus on, spend our time on, and expend our finances on. It is hard to say “Yes” to the things that matter most and focus on our eternity because the tangible, the urgent, and the world around us clamor for our attention.
It’s hard to say “No” to things in our ability to buy to say “Yes” to giving generously to the Lord’s work.
It’s hard to say “No” to the extra sleep to say “Yes” to regular time in the morning with the Word of God.
It’s hard to say, “No” to a job that pays more to say “Yes” to the importance of being in worship and Bible study on a weekly basis.
It’s hard to say, “No,” to the agenda that we had planned to say “Yes” to a friend that needs a listening ear and godly counsel.
It just is.
It’s why Jesus had to remind us that the eternal things matter more and much longer than the temporal. We can’t take material things with us to heaven, but we can take our faith in the Lord Jesus. We won’t get to the end of our life and wish we had worked more, but rather we wish we would have spent more time in prayer, in worship, and in the Word with the people and family we love.
Fortunately we have a Savior who perfectly said, “No” to the things that he had to in order to say “Yes” to the mission he was on to “seek and to save the lost” of which I am one. What a gift of God’s grace that in essence Jesus said, “Yes” to me in the process of saying “No” to all that would have kept him from securing my salvation.
Now that’s tough love. Love that prioritizes the eternal over the temporal and does all to ensure us that we are loved, forgiven, gifted children of God.
Don’t worry. Jesus has promised that when we say “Yes” to the eternal, kingdom of God things, the things we have to say “No” to will pale and fade in the background because chances are they are all temporal anyway.
Apply: What is one thing you need to say “No” to in order to say “Yes” to something that advances the kingdom of God in your own life or the life of another?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for knowing perfectly what to say “No” and “Yes” to. We thank you for putting our salvation first and doing ALL that was necessary to secure our trip from the temporal to the eternal. AMEN>