NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

September 26

Scripture focus: Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NRSV)

I once served in the church nursery for 52 weeks consecutively because I couldn't say, "No." I was young and thought this was what it meant to sacrifice for the kingdom of God. I was wrong.

I love this quote from Cloud and Townsend (p. 110, Boundaries When to Say Yes When to Say No To Take Control of Your Life), "...if we can't say no, we can't say yes."

Each of us is a limited resource. This is a natural boundary of energy, skin, time, ability and purpose. We weren't created to be God. We were created to trust him with all of ourselves. But we're limited. Our responsibility is to choose how to spend the limited resource of self.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a cheat sheet for how to evaluate our spending. He says that we only give when we can give freely and without compulsion. We are responsible to use our minds and determine appropriate "nos" and "yeses."

Fearful people often can't say no because they fear judgment, withdrawal of love or abandonment. Conversely, some fearful people can't say yes because they fear failure or loss of control. I'm sure there are a kazillion reasons why we often confuse our "yes" and "nos."

But the point is this: each of us must take responsibility for our answer. Sometimes we'll make a mistake in choosing. No worries -- we can learn from our slip ups. I would have missed this teachable moment entirely if instead of taking stock of myself, I chose to foolishly blame those who asked me to serve. Serving was my choice. I own it. If we take personal responsibility and own our decisions with a teachable spirit, we're going to grow and learn.

I would never agree today to keep the nursery for 52 weeks in a row with what I know today. But perhaps I'd never have learned the hard lesson of limited personal resources if I hadn't tested out my hypothesis that loving God means never saying no to desperate nursery care providers. Those 52 Sundays were a small price to pay for such a great life lesson.

Recommended reading: Job 4-6

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