I am doing great work here, and I cannot come down

We just ended a study with our community group entitled Discovering God's Will, by Andy Stanley.  I thought the study was okay, not great, until the last lesson.  Now - I think the end was worth the wait.  The prior week, Andy was talking about vision and making a general plan for how you would like for your life to be...then let God shape and mold the plan into what He wants it to be.  In this final lesson, Andy is talking about learning to say no to the things in life that do not help you achieve your vision instead of doing everything that everyone asks you to do.  Then, he brings in the story of Nehemiah. 

Nehemiah is building a wall in Jerusalem that he has traveled about 800 miles to build - because he felt a burden to do so (a calling from God).  He is building the wall to protect the city.  There are many that oppose the wall, and there are some that decide to lure Nehemiah away from the wall so that they can harm him and he will not be able to complete it.  They act friendly and send a messenger to say, "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages." (Let's meet on neutral ground.)  Nehemiah senses that they intend to harm him, and responds, "I am carrying on a great project, and cannot go down."  Four times they come back, and four times he sends the messenger away with the same reply.

Decisions that we make in life to get involved in various activities don't necessarily lead us into such a dire situation that Nehemiah would have been in if he would have accepted the invitation.  But, it has to make you wonder -  How many activities are you involved in that do not move you forward in the way you want your life to be in 5, 10, 20 years?  What is your vision for your relationship with God, your children's future, and your relationship with your spouse?  Shouldn't those be the most important visions for our life? 

I have thought about this since we had our group meeting Wednesday.  I intend to write down some visions for my life...and be conscious about the choices that I make in the future.  It is okay to say "No" any time you feel the need; because it may just be that "I am doing Great Work Here, and I Cannot come down!"