Stewardship Series: The Discipline of Saying No

There is no greater discipline than the discipline of saying no. If you are a parent than saying no to your child has been a long and arduous task as your child can wear you down with their constant pleading. One day your child will move out and not have anyone to say no to them. They will have to become their own parent and judge what they should and shouldn't do. Unfortunately, we live in a self-indulgent society and we are constantly bombarded with ads that wear us down with their constant pleading until we give in to their sales pitch. Just think about it. There you are on a diet and they keep featuring mouth watering burgers eaten by skinny, sexy models. Realistically, we all know you will not look like that if you eat at these burger places but the companies don't care about the truth they just want to make money even if that means that you will die from their unhealthy food. 

When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food. Proverbs 23:1-3

Take some time to observe the commercials run during Saturday morning cartoons. The children are bombarded by ads on the latest toys, junk cereals, fast food and fun places they can go. They are being trained from toddlers how to be consumers and saying yes to everything they watch on TV. As we grow up things don't change the items just become more expensive. Take some time to think about the commercials we watch. The message the companies are giving us are all the same. You will be sexier, have more friends, look cooler, be admired by all if you buy all the latest cars, boats, jewelry, perfumes, clothes, beer, and go to the most exotic vacations around the world. They will even offer you the money up front with interest so you can be that wonderful person now. You only need to say yes to their credit cards. 

Here is the problem. Some people have not learned the discipline of saying no. Therefore, they buy things they can't afford, eat things that make them sick, do things that they shouldn't do and waste time they could be using to be productive.  For instance we buy things we can't afford and get into debt because we don't want to wait to save money. We get credit cards because we don't want to wait to save up for things we can't afford now. This lack of discipline causes people to be poor. You may have many luxury items at home but be in so much debt that your large income goes to paying debt every month. Having these items doesn't make you rich. A lot of rich people are just as poor because they are borrowers just like everybody else. Our government is in a huge crisis because they too have become servants to their debts and lenders. They have even stolen from us to pay their debts. If they could only say no. 

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)

When it comes to eating we are all guilty of not saying no. We get hungry we eat without a single thought of long term health problems. We go to the nearest fast food restaurant and because we have no discipline to cook at home we stuff our bodies with saturated fats, empty calories, nutrient deficient food that causes to gain weight. In this country we indulge at buffets that have enough calories to support a small village in Africa. The holidays become an occasion to gorge ourselves despite our poor stomach begging us to stop. People smoke, drink, do drugs, and all other kinds of things to their bodies because they can't say no. Whether it be peer pressure, addiction, family traditions, or cultural norm we go along with the crowd not thinking about the outcome. At the end we will be the ones who sit in the hospital bed alone with tubes hanging out of us wondering where all those wonderful friends are and how we let ourselves be fooled into thinking this was a good idea. 

Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)

Those ad pushers don't stop at tempting us to eat, drink, party, and borrow money so we can have more toys. They also push sex. Sex sells. That's why they use it to sell things that have nothing to do with sex like a hamburger. We are so gullible. There is a problem though, sex outside a godly relationship and covenant makes a huge mess. Just ask the guys who are now in jail for not paying child support or who have lost their license or are in so much debt that they will never pay it off until they die. Let's talk to the kids without dads and the single moms without anyone to help them. Once again people succumb to temporary pleasure instead of doing things the right way. Hey ladies how do you like being cheated out of a nice wedding? How about you guys? Do you like having to marry a girl you really don't love because she got pregnant? Do you like to have your child raised by someone else?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. (Proverbs 5:21-23).

What if everyone waited until they could afford things, found out more about the person they were dating and counted their calories. I bet we would be less miserable. What if we stood up to the ad pushers became parents to ourselves and said no. What if we thought about the long term effects of our eating habits, spending habits and relationships? What rewards could we reap from being disciplined to say no. Can you imagine being in good health, prosperous and happily married? If you learn to wait, not settle for less and make good decisions, you can have all that... Just say no. 

How much better to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;
He who keeps his way preserves his soul. (Proverbs 16:16-17).

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Jaziz Gutierrez
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Constitutional Right To Be Offensive Is Not Biblical

     1 Corinthians 10:23 Amplified All things are legitimate [permissible--and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].
This morning as I was getting ready to start my day when a Yahoo news caption caught my eye. Kanye West grabs mic from Taylor Swift. Curious I decided to see what all the fuss was about and as I watched the video that was posted online. I was shocked to find out that Kanye West had grabbed the mic away from Taylor Swift while accepting a VMA award. He simply jumped on stage to let everyone know that he thought Beyonce had a better video. Taylor Swift stood there not knowing what to do. The audience booed Kanye the rest of the night. Though Kanye did nothing illegal it was incredibly rude and hateful to Taylor Swift.
There is a trend that I am seeing more and more in our country and it is this: Let's use our freedom to do what we want regardless of who it hurts or offends. The constitutional freedoms that our forefathers worked so hard to afford us and our military has worked so hard to defend have been used as an excuse to be hurtful to others. Unfortunately, many people use the freedom of speech as an excuse to use hateful, prejudicial, sensual and rude.  They use language with no regard to who they are offending. Jesus was clear though in Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Reason #1 Not all things are profitable: It makes our spirits weak when we indulge our flesh.

     This is not limited to the secular media but also to the church. For we have used the grace of God and our freedom from sin as an excuse to live a self indulgent lifestyle. A far cry from the disciplined lifestyle that Jesus and his disciples lived. "To be a forerunner in the last days you must live a fasted and prayerful lifestyle. "I once got in a discussion with a "Christian" online on why they should not be befriending women online who were half clothed and who clearly where there to lure men to their porn sites. He claimed that he was ministering to these women and I had no right to judge them. I told him that children were also on myspace and could see all that was on his myspace profile. Matthew 18:6 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." I will agree that there is no law against being on myspace but is your time online and the places you are going are they building your spirit. While it may be permissable to watch TV is it something that is going to edify our spiritual life. Is what you watch a stumbling block to your children? Do you watch rated R movies in front of your children? Is your conversations with others clearly depict you as a child of God? Or do people hear you curse, gossip and tear others down? Do you meditate on violent games and violent movies. You say it doesn't affect you but you carelessly do it front of others that maybe are trying to overcome a gang lifestyle. I know for me that too much TV makes me weak. What's your kryptonite? More importantly, do you know what makes others spiritually weak?

Reason #2 Not all things are permissible: If you violate the conscience of others you violate the higher law of love. 1Corinthians 10:²⁴Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor].

     An ongoing dilemma in the church is that of drinking. I hear people say that they only drink a glass of wine with dinner. If that's true that may be permissible but...if you are drinking every night and can't go to sleep without it or your prescriptions now it falls under bondage. See whatever we can't go without has already mastered us. If you can't fast TV, media, food or go without something then it has you. More importantly if you are drinking in front of someone who used to have a drinking problem then you have just become a stumbling block to that person. If you are playing the lottery in front of someone who had a serious gambling problem then you need to reconsider your spiritual freedom. (I personally believe that if we invested our money into the kingdom and followed God's spiritual principles on money we would prosper regardless of the economy.) I consider eating a big fat juicy piece of bacon in front of a Jew rude. It's like eating a piece of cake in front of someone who is struggling with their weight and dieting. I have let people know when something offends my conscience and you would be surprised how often the response is one of defensive pride. Bottom line if you are parading your freedom in front of others with no regard as to how it hurts their conscience then you are in sin. Anything that violates the love of God is sin.

Reason #3 Not all things are wholesome: Not everything is good for us.

     Ah, the western culture. We are among the sickest most unhealthiest groups of people on the earth. We have taken the scripture about Peter having the vision of eating what was unclean and ran with it. We have made it to mean that we can eat anything and we will be ok. Just this week we said good bye to a friend who lost to a long time battle with her weight. Her heart and lungs filled with fluid until she couldn't breathe no more. I'm sure that in the beginning she saw no harm with the little dainties and delicacies she was eating until it became too late. Unfortunately many of us will see Jesus sooner than later because we have refused to take care of the body he gave us. Ouch! That hurt me more than it hurt you. We think we can eat a stack of pancakes, pork sausage, hashbrowns all smothered in gravy and stay healthy. Jesus didn't eat pork. If God truly lifted all the food restrictions in the Old Testament then why did Jesus continue to eat fish and bread. I don't know if you noticed this but Jesus did eat a lot of seafood. He did a lot of walking and fasted quite often. Food related diseases like diabetes are at on all time high. If you think you can drink beer with your cake and be around for a long time then you need a check up from the neck up. We can't live a self indulgent lifestyle and live long. Don't let me get started on those fattening Starbucks coffees with donuts. How about all the fast food? Just remember fast food, fast death. Though we have the freedom to eat what we want let's not use that freedom to cut our destiny short here on earth. I don't want to hear Jesus say "Why are you here so soon? I had things for you to do still and I had to find someone else to finish your work." I want to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." We can't ignore the obvious. Whatever we sow, we reap. This a spiritual principle that even affects our health. See it may be lawful for you to eat everything but not everything is wholesome.