Challenging words from Clay planning meeting

On Tuesday evening, I joined a few leaders from the Clay group for a planning meeting. In a nutshell, the meeting was held to plan the timetable for Clay (for both Southside & St Lucia groups), & also to have some thoughts/discussions on the future direction of Clay.

The meeting has been described as a "Clay leaders meeting"; however, I don't consider myself a leader within the Clay group. Uh uh, no way. I was at the planning meeting by virtue of being 1 of the 2 Clay events co-ordinators for this year.

Anyway, it was what a brother said at the start of the meeting that really caught my attention. He paraphrased a talk by David Cook:

When we choose to follow Christ, we give up our right to our own life. We lose the ability to say "No", because our life now belongs to Christ. If leaders in the church can identify a gift in you, you should seriously consider taking the role on. We shouldn't say "no" on the basis that we are too busy, because our life is not our own. We are given gifts for the purpose of building up God's people. The buck stops with us. The direction & shape of Clay is our responsibility.

Challenging words indeed. A captivating way to start the meeting, & I believe it played a considerable part in making the meeting a fruitful & encouraging one - well, that certainly was the case for me, & I felt blessed to have spent time in the company of those who attended. I am thankful that this brother shared the above thoughts.

Back to those challenging words. What was said took me back to the end of a few years ago at YF, when another brother asked me if I have given any thoughts to any roles within YF. I laughed & kindly brushed aside his question, saying there was no way I had much to offer YF & that I'm no leadership material (or something to that effect). Obviously, I'm good at saying "No" to some things! So in doing that, I managed to distance myself from taking any roles or responsibilities in YF during my time in that group.

Now, I won't say I regretted saying "no" to those YF roles, but I guess it perhaps showed how self-centered I had been (& still can be). It reminded me that I often think & live as if my life belongs only to me, usually only doing what I feel is best for myself. At least since then, I haven't always said "No" when approached for various roles within the church & Clay. I started my children's ministry involvement by accepting an approach to be an assistant to a Sunday School teacher before being promoted to a Sunday School teacher. I also was briefly involved with Teens Ministry a few years back (although, a tad reluctantly - I just didn't know how to say "no" at the time when approached for the Teens Ministry). And, I did say "yes" when approached by Pastor Steve earlier this year to be a Clay events co-ordinator (representing St Lucia Clay) - which was why I was present at the Clay planning meeting.

I must say that losing the ability to say "no" is tough, as it can (& often will) mean sacrificing a good part of your time & effort. But that is part of being God's disciple - you follow Him & serve Him. Losing the ability to say "no" is difficult especially for someone like me, who likes to do what he wants whenever he wants. Living out David Cook's message will not be easy, especially the notion that "our live is not our own". But I pray that God will help me become less selfish & more willing to serve Him in the areas that He wants me to serve.