I Said to Myself: Overcoming False Beliefsنموونە

Be Efficient

False Belief: I waste opportunities so I cannot be trusted!

● Caution: self-entitled

There’s a member in my family that I love very much. This person is kind, loving, generous and always thinks of others first. But even as a child, this loving family member would always leave a cup, bottle, or plate of food with a little left in the container or plate. “Whose drink is this?" "Oh, you know who…”, everyone would say.

To be a person that is efficient is to be given any type of resource and not waste any of it. It is achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. This is not only limited to actual objects, but also includes our time. How many times do we find ourselves at a particular job or in our workplace, simply wasting the organization’s time? To be efficient is to be committed to what has been given to us and have an approach of excellence towards it.  

Jesus shares a parable that teaches us about the importance of efficiency. In Matthew 25:14-30, He describes three men that were given different measures of responsibility over finances. They were each to produce results accordingly. One of them hid his bag of silver because he thought the master was harsh and he didn't want to lose the bag. Jesus calls him a 'wicked man' (v. 26).

When we tell ourselves that what we do does not really matter, we treat things and people as if they do not matter. That is the danger of believing this false belief. We try to convince ourselves that doing things half-heartedly is ok, because “nobody’s perfect, people shouldn’t judge’, etc. However, what we are really saying is, “I’ve been so deeply hurt by people that if I choose to care about things or people, I am afraid that I will be hurt again.” We then take the “easier” route and lower our own expectations so that others won’t have such a high expectation of us. This, we think, is a safe route in obtaining success. 

Remember: If you find yourself struggling with self-entitlement saying, “I don’t know why I even bother”, make this declaration:

In Christ, I have everything I need and that is the only expectation I can live by! 2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)