Giving up the good --- for good

    Hebrews 10: 35-36 - So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Often much of our Christian life is spent focused on avoiding and confessing sin in our lives.  We, through God's Spirit, are in a constant battle "putting on" and putting off" as St. Paul encouraged us in his epistles. We are trying leave worldliness, sin and selfishness behind.  But what about leaving behind "good things"?  Is there a place to say, "Yes, this is good but not good for me"?
The older I get as a musician the more in demand I get from others for accompanying.  I am needed for community choir, local shows, high school choir concerts, other church events, weddings, funerals, the list goes on.  I cannot say yes to every music gig I am offered.   I have to pick and choose which event will fit into my plate.  I define my plate as "that which God has placed in my life for His glory at this time in my life." My plate has changed over the years: some years child-rearing and teaching full time was on my plate.  Now that Jimmy is grown, taking care of my elderly mother is on my plate.  That is the task God has called me to do. I used to teach piano, no I have a prison ministry. I realize that my plate is limited in scope and size.  I cannot do everything and still keep my sanity and a right relationship before God.
So I have to say no.  No to good things sometimes....no to good people sometimes as well.  This world offers many many distractions to keep us "busy" but not on the task God has given us.  There are many wonderful attractions that try to keep us on "having a good time" but not "doing God's work".  It takes a spiritual gaze to sort through life's choices and make the correct ones.  Sometimes this involves leaving some good things and even people behind.
I recently had to say no to a relationship that I had for many years.  I realized that knowing this person had drained me rather than helped me, and that I was used in a way that was taking me from what God put on my plate.  So I said good bye. It was hard, but it opened up new freedoms for me on my plate. Someone very wise told me recently, "With others, you can care but do not carry."   That really struck me.  I know my gift is of encouragement in the church, given to me by the Spirit of God in His infinite  will.  It is a great gift to know what my spiritual gift is and to utilize it.  But I have found that there are needy folks who take kindness as an open door for them to spill toxic sludge into my life, or to pull me into their emergencies.  I am learning, under God's patient direction, how to have guards to care for people around me, but to refuse to bear the weight of carrying them through something I simply can't handle.  
I hope that as you read this that you will discover that it's OK to have limits, to say no, and to focus on what God has placed in your life right now.  I used a verse at this article's title from Hebrews. In Hebrews 10, the writer is encouraging persecuted Christians to stay the course even under great duress.  I am taking this spiritual principle to also include those times when we have many "good" opportunities which tempt us to get off course in our God-given quests.  The word "endurance" is found in verse 35. This word is also used by Paul in Romans 5:4 when he says, "endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope."  
As I look at what I fill my days with, I pray that I am filling them with what the Lord wants me to do.  I do not want to be a plant with great leaves but no juicy fruit.  I want to have sharp vision to stay on course with endurance, using healthy boundaries with those around me to do what God has called me to do.  
Jesus was perfect in following his Father's will. He was being told what to do all the time by the disciples---- things that did not honor God's will.  They said, "Don't go to Jerusalem! They will kill you."  They said, "The children are too much around Jesus ---- get rid of them."  Both times Jesus chastised the disciples for telling him to do something that God did not call him to do. In the first instance, he said to Peter, "get behind me, Satan!"  In the second instance he was indignant to the disciples and said, "Let the little children come unto me and do NOT despise them." That's pretty strong language. His boundaries were firm.  He was hyper-focused on his calling to be the world's Savior.  As I look to Christ, I realize that I must be just as vigilant in following God's call for my life too.
The word "endurance" in Hebrews and Romans is the Greek feminine word "hypomone" which means, "patience, constancy, sustaining".
So how do we stay true to God's calling with the hundreds of small choices we are given every day? Simple.  Pray, stay close to God's word, and walk in the Spirit. He is always guiding and directing as we wonder "Do I say no or yes to this?"  Pause.....trust God for the leading....and obey that leading.  Know that this is a daily battle, but we are on the Lord's side. He will guide us. That's our comfort!
Whatever God puts on your plate, guard it, feed it, pour yourself into it.  God will give you the power to endure......for good.