If I could have a "magic" pill as a pastor, it would be a pill that would allow people to commit - and then follow through - to set priorities - then stick to them. Although I think we all struggle with this problem from time to time and to various degrees, there are many people who have shipwrecked their spiritual lives and have caused their whole lives (and the the lives of those around them) to wander aimlessly, to never have the successes they are equipped to have, and to hurt many people along the way.
Proverbs 25:28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. A city without walls is susceptible to attack and plunder constantly. Defending a city with no boundaries is difficult at best, most probably impossible. All of the city's resources would have to be expended on defense.
People who can't commit and follow through on things and who are generally unreliable are like a city without walls. People and events are constantly coming into their lives and they can't say no to anything and they end up running around - always busy - but never getting the most important things in life attended to - not because they don't want to - but because other urgent,but less important things get in their way.
Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, talked about separating the things of life into four quadrants - urgent unimportant, non-urgent unimportant, urgent important, and non-urgent unimportant. Most people focus all of their energy on the urgent things of life - whether or not they are important! However, the most important things in life are not urgent - they are developing relationships - they can be put off - until the relationships die or don't ever amount to what they should.
The relationship that is usually left for last - God! Uncommitted people rarely ever develop their relationship with God and the things of God to the extent they should. Oh they may be Christians, but very uncommitted ones. Church attendance is 1-2X/month, Bible reading is sporadic, prayer may be several times per week (more in a crisis), they sign up to help in a ministry, but cancel often because of "crisis," then drop out completely. Quite frankly, the rest of their life looks similar. Their life is no harder than most usually, it is just that they have no priorities and boundaries that they stick to.
If it sounds like you, remember this, you do know how to say no - you are saying no all the time - you just don't realize it. Every time you say yes to something you are indeed saying no to everything else at that time. Anyone have a solution?
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