Choose Your Battles Wisely
If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Exodus 18:23
A good general knows it’s a mistake to try and fight on too many fronts at once; that when you’re ‘spread out too thin’ you’re vulnerable! And the same is true in life. To avoid undue stress, you must refuse to let every little thing upset you. In other words, choose your battles wisely. Don’t make mountains out of molehills. Before you devote time, energy, and emotion to an issue, ask yourself how important it is, and how much of your time, effort, and energy is appropriate. Try to discern what really matters and focus on those things. Learn the difference between major matters and minor matters. Moses was becoming exhausted because he personally handled every problem, dispute, and crisis that arose among the Israelites. Perhaps he thought he had to do so, since he was the leader of the nation. But his father-in-law said to him, in essence, ‘You take care of the big things and leave the small stuff to someone else.’ He went on to say, ‘“If you follow this advice…you will be able to endure the pressures”…Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions’ (vv. 23-24). Stop and think about it: your life already has plenty of stress and strain, so why add more if you can avoid it? When you’re tempted to take on a ‘battle’, step back and decide if it’s worth it and what it will require from you. Don’t go to war when there are no spoils.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, keep me from being consumed by things that are not the MAIN thing, which is You. In Your Name Jesus I pray. Amen
Your devotions are very good. The only problem I have is that they are difficult to read–because there are no paragraphs! This makes it much harder to read.
WOW. Wonderful words of wisdom. We have all heard of the “battle of the sexes”. As a veteran of 4 marriages, I am very battle-tested. As you know there are seven major-battles in relationships between husband and wife: 1. The toilet seat. 2. Driving the car in the passenger seat or the back seat. 3. Cooking. 4. Decorating the home. 5. Money. 6.The remote control TV clicker. 7. The bedroom. I lose six of those battles every time. But it doesn’t matter how many battles we love in love as LONG AS WE WIN THE WAR.