Skip to main content

Just Say No

Just Say No!

Let your mind drift back to the classic, anti-drug commercials of the eighties and nineties when we discovered that eggs were bad for us. Of course, true to of our cultural loss of absolutes, we are not entirely sure if eggs are good or bad for us. But, I digress. Do you remember the commercials? A frying pan with bubbling oil invited a whole, fresh egg for a dance. The egg quickly surrendered to the frying pan producing the incredible, edible egg that we all love.

In the commercials, the frying pan represents drugs and the egg represents our collective brains. The analogy is poignant and pointed. Most of us would agree with the basic premise of the commercial – illegal drugs are bad for us. We would also endorse the refrain, “Just say no”!

We try to drill into our children and youth that it is okay to say no to the things that will destroy us. Yet, some of us have great difficulty saying no. Many of us realize that we should say no more often, but the decision becomes complicated by the innumerable good opportunities that flood our lives. Could it be that we are draining our physical, emotional, and spiritual reserves by saying yes to too many good opportunities? Is it wrong to say no? Will we be stoned if we say no? Will the world stop? Will we be labeled as bad moms and dads? What will the neighbors think?

Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Maybe we should ask, is it wrong to say yes? What would Jesus do? (I really need to update my slogans.) Did Jesus say no? I think Jesus said no much more often than we realize.

While people were burdened with great theological questions, Jesus hid.

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; Mark 7:24

When asked to run for political office, Jesus hid.

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6:15

While people were hungry, Jesus hid.

24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" John 6:24-25

While people were sick, Jesus hid.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. Mark 3:7

Jesus hid a lot.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16.

But, when it mattered, He said yes.

He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." Luke 26:42

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Sometimes we have to say no to good things, so that we can yes to great things.

Any questions?

Comments

James said…
Good to see more wisdom from you! Miss it!
I struggled for sometime with guilt for not volunteering for this, that, or whatever. I finally realized that in trying to do lots of things, I enjoyed nothing, and subsequently I began doing because I had "said I would", not because I wanted two.

No questions here, well one, any chance you'll blog more often?

Popular posts from this blog

A Life Worth Living

We all have an idea of how we hope that our life would go. We all have dreams. We have dreams for our own lives and the lives of people who are close to us. We have goals that we would like to accomplish during our lifetime. We have a measure of what would constitute a complete life for us. When reality does not match our idealized life, we are disappointed and sad. We grieve the loss of a life that we had imagined both for ourselves and those who are close to us. We wonder where God is in all of these situations. The Bible tells us about a man with whom we can identify. Jacob’s life had taken several unexpected twists, yet he came to the end of his life content with God’s will. Jacob was ready to die, when his end was approaching. He was at peace with his life and all that God had done through him even though life had not turned out the way that he had planned. Finally, Jacob said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen your face again and know you are still al

Technical Difficulty

This blog has been inactive for a while due to some technical issues. It is good to be back and I have learned that my technical ability has declined in the last few years. It is amazing how quickly things change. I have been around computers for almost 30 years. My dad bought a commodore 64 in the early 80’s and bought an IMB clone pc later that decade. I spent part of my childhood playing Impossible Mission and Pac Man while typing the occasional paper. For those of you who did not grow up in the 80’s, yes, typing a paper was a big deal. I’m surprised that I didn’t get beat up more as a kid. I learned how to use pc’s before Windows 3.1 and remember when Word Perfect was better than Word – the WYSIWYG was way better on Word Perfect when printing to a dot matrix. While I was in college in the early 90’s I took computer programming and worked in the computer lab. During graduate studies I continued working in computer labs and began doing contract work for computer vendors

A pat on the back

I really just wanted a pat on the back. Several years ago I attended an appreciation luncheon for pastors. I had been to a similar event hosted by the same group the previous year, and I really enjoyed it. The previous year they gave away some nice prizes, and we all left the event feeling encouraged and valued. I knew the main speaker before the event and I had been looking forward to his encouraging words. As soon as he started his address, I knew that it was going to be a difficult lunch. He began asking us probing questions about our prayer life and our personal relationship with God. He continued pressing us to evaluate sin in our life and called us to turn from our sin. I could not believe it. How could this guy do this to us? I came here to be encouraged not attacked. His assignment was simple. All he had to do was talk about how tough ministry is and let us know that he has been there. He could throw in a few funny stories and everyone would leave happy. The longer he s