I have a discouraged friend. She was excited to have recruited plenty of help well in advance of a big project. Now, the event is close and the recruited help is not turning out to be committed help. She thought everything would be easily accomplished on the big day. She now has twice the work to do herself and has lost her delight in the project, and the people.

In Matthew 5:37 Jesus tells us, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”            

You see, my friend’s problem isn’t that she doesn’t have any help but she doesn’t have as much help as she had been promised. People who said they would help now won’t.  She willingly admits that some have legitimate reasons but most do not. They simply made commitments that they have backed away from. They have not let their “yes be yes.”

Did I mention that this is a church project and the people backing away from the responsibilities are Christians?

When projects are well planned and well manned with everyone fulfilling their promised role, it’s a delight to do the part that belongs to us. But, when there are some who walk away at the last minute, someone has to take up the slack and that person is often burdened. When our yes isn’t yes, that’s sin. Our sin is always against God but often, like this situation, a person gets hurt. Her pleasure in the work has been dashed.

My friend knows that God is sovereign and that all the work will be completed. He will bring to the project whom He wants. In the meantime, should she express her frustration to the others? Should she just do the work and pray for God to be glorified as He multiplies her efforts for His glory? Is her negative response to the others also a sin? These concerns add to the stress.

How often do we agree to jobs that we know will overfill our schedules because we don’t want to disappoint someone? Then, how frequently is the disappointment multiplied because we back out at the last minute without really considering what it’s doing to someone else? Wouldn’t it be better to say no up front and let her find someone who has the time?

God has work for each one of us to do in our churches. Will you and I take time to pray before agreeing to any responsibility and ask God to lead us to the work He has for us?

Then, let your yes be yes and your no be no…to the glory of God and the good of others.