Overcoming Stress (5)

“He appointed twelve…that he might send them out.” Mark 3:14 NIV

(5) Don’t try to do it all yourself. One of the reasons we get stressed out is because we think that everything depends on us. Not Jesus. He enlisted, trained, and empowered twelve others so they could share the load. He delegated His work. He got other people involved. So why don’t we do that? Two reasons: (a) Perfectionism. We think, “If I want a job well done, I’ll do it myself.” That’s a nice idea, but often it doesn’t work well because there are just too many things to be done. We simply don’t have the time and talent to do everything ourselves. It’s really an egotistical attitude that says, “Nobody, but nobody, can do it the way I can!” Do you think Jesus could have done a better job than His disciples? Of course, but even knowing that, He still let them do the work. Why? Because we need to let other people make some of the mistakes in order for them to learn, the same way the disciples learned. Don’t rob others of an education. (b) Insecurity. “What if I turn this responsibility over to someone else and they do a better job than I do?” That possibility is threatening to many of us. But you won’t feel threatened if you know who you are, who you’re trying to please, what you want to accomplish, and the one thing you need to focus on. In order to be effective, you must get other people involved, because you can’t focus on more than one thing at a time and do it well.

Bible in a year: Jeremiah 27-29 and 1 Timothy 6