When I ask someone a question that is clearly a “yes” or “no” question, it is very frustrating for me to hear…”maybe” or “I’ll try!” On the Back 9 of life….I can tell you that “I’ll try” 99% of the time means “no!” The person saying, “I’ll try,” including me, just doesn’t want to tell the person “No.”
I have learned to tell people when I ask a yes or no question that no is a good answer. I have also learned to say “no” with a smile. If you are a people pleaser, or a recovering people pleaser, you have said “yes” when the answered should have been “no.” LOL…Take it from me….eventually those “yeses” that should have been “no’s” do a number on you.
I have learned much about my words in regards to no’s, yeses and maybe’s when it comes to God. There is the “No” that some say to God. They just aren’t interested. Thankfully I said yes at age 9. There are some that say “yes” to God…and they are “all in!” But then there is the “maybe” category.
Today I want to focus on when I/you/we say, “maybe” to God. Sadly this is a category for Christians. Anyone can find themselves in the “maybe world” at any time. In my late 30’s and early 40’s I lived in the “maybe” category. If you are a Christian and you find yourself in the maybe camp, it can mean God is important and as high as second on your list. But, as I have said so many times before, if He is second and you have Him in the maybe category which means something comes before Him–another voice, a pursuit, a goal…other than HIM–then a “train wreck is in your future.” If God is second, He may as well be last!
The “maybe” answer to God is a horrible place to live. It is saying yes when it is convenient. Or you join in His work temporarily to be part of something God is doing which alleviates the guilt for a short period of time but it doesn’t last. Or it is “dusting off the Bible and God” when things go terribly wrong and the distress 911 goes out…until the pain is lifted. Or it is giving money when you feel you have enough.
I equate “maybe” to what the Bible refers to as “lukewarm” in scripture. Revelations 3:16-18, “I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” The answer “maybe” can become a comfortable way of life….but God hates maybe….He hates it!
Exodus 20:3-4, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God……”
So…if you are like me…and you have an inkling that you are giving God the “maybes”…I desperately want you to know…HE will spare no expense or calamity…to bring you back to HIMSELF. He does this out of HIS great love for YOU. Do you think that David’s “maybe” when Bathsheba became first, above God, didn’t lead to a “train wreck?” David was called a “man after God’s own heart” but his maybe cost him…his son. David, when confronted by Nathan, repented but it didn’t stop the horrible consequences of “maybe”.
I want my Back 9 posts to be encouraging but I also want God’s best for anyone–His abundance. I can’t help but be led by the Holy Spirit to know there are many people, like me, who have fallen in the “maybe’s” with God. In Proverbs it clearly teaches, “There is a way that seem right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
I encourage you today…to adopt Hebrews 11:6, ” …he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Put down your pride…let down your guard. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). We know that God is a jealous God. He is also a loving God who disciplines those He loves.
Saying YES to God, living your life ALL IN for Him, brings rewards. The greatest of those is a God who has your back and GREATER GOOD in mind. Remember, Ephesians 2:10 tells us that He has good works for everyone to accomplish and He has prepared them in advance for you to do.
Say YES to your Creator. There will be NO REGRETS.