Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of is, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on  every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Joshua 21:43-45 (ESV)

Have you ever failed to come through on a commitment? I have. Lately, I’ve been working on making fewer commitments. Not because I don’t want to do things that require commitment, but because I don’t want to make a commitment I am not able to keep.

I want to be known as a person of my word. I know that I have a tendency to want to do everything. I like being in control. I’d rather do things myself so that I know it’s been done to my own personal standards rather than have someone else do it. But in all of that, I get overloaded. I need to learn to let go of the things that don’t matter as much. I need to learn not be the one to always say, “I’ll do it.”

Does this mean I never commit to anything? Of course not! I still have plenty of commitments. The benefit of not over-committing myself is that, when I’m able to do even more than I thought, it’s a bigger blessing to those I’m helping.

I’d rather be a blessing to be able to go over and above than to be the one no one can depend on because I’ve made too many commitments.

I want it to be said of me that, of my good promises, all came to pass.

Daily Bible reading: Joshua 21-22; Luke 6:1-26