As a result of reading the Frantic Family book by Lencioni Matt and I talk about what our focus should be as a family each semester. It seems like each semester brings a different focus in ministry that needs to be evaluated as well as in life with our family. I tend to over book my life which means I over book my families life. There are so many people I want to spend time with, so many activities I want to do with my kids, so many places to go, people to keep in touch with, so many meals to make, etc. etc.
But what is BEST, not just good? What deserves most of my attention? We used to use the phrase at MSU with our staff team “are you good tired or bad tired?” If we were doing the right things, meaning the most important, the things God was asking us to do then it meant we were working hard and that brought on a good tired. But if we were doing work that wasn’t the best or doing it in our own strength it definitely brought on a bad tired.
I’ve also been reminded reading Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love that God does not want our leftovers. He doesn’t want guilt offerings or scraps. It is easy to fill our lives up with other things and then give God whatever is left (and if you’ve seen me at the end of the day you know it a lot of nothing left to give). At one point Chan even says,
Leftovers are merely inadequate; from God’s point of view (and lest we forget, His in the only one that matters), they’re evil. Let’s stop calling it a “busy schedule” or “bills” or “forgetfulness.” It’s called evil.”
Yikes! So convicting. I can often get “busy” and just leave God out of my agenda. But God wants our best, deserves our best, demands our best.
My goal each day is to ask God to guide me, give me strength, that I would be willing to divert from my agenda if need be and to do what He is asking me. I want to do the BEST things, not just a lot of good things. I want to be good tired, not just tired. How about you? Can you relate to this?