THE LAST 5%: “PRIORITIZING YOUR ENERGY”

They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:6-10).

You’d think that God would just say, “Go for it” …

“Go tell it on the mountains.” Or maybe: “Just do it!” “Start with the “A’s” in the phone book and work your way through!” After all, doesn’t the Great Commission tell us to “GO?”

Seems like a universal call to me. But here we find a seemingly contradictory voice. It’s like a parent telling you to “Make sure you be nice to every adult that you encounter today… but you can slide on our neighbor, Mr. Sackett. He’s weird.”

A bit confusing… don’t you think?

But maybe what God is saying something we often miss. Maybe He’s reminding me that although the Gospel is universal, our time and energy are limited. Maybe He is reiterating that the Good News is eternal, but the couriers of that message are mortals. Even though the Gospel is to all men, we cannot be.

Try and you’ll burn out like a sparkler on the 4th of July… nice for a moment but now useless forever!

Sometimes I find myself doing lots of things, but am I doing the right things? My day is filled with busyness, but am I about “my Father’s business?”

Here’s a sobering and saddening fact: 85% of what you do, anyone can do. I know it may come as a shock, but don’t drop out with depression yet. It gets worse.

You see, as a leader, you can fill your hours by writing letters, answering email, making phone calls, and emceeing meetings. At luncheons, we do such critical things as telling hungry people which table goes first to the buffet. Such power can get addicting, I’m sure.

Here’s the second part: 10% of what you do can be delegated to those with a modicum of expertise. That is leading a meeting, or giving a lecture, a teaching, or giving counsel and advice. Now I realize that some of these you may need to do, but stick with me.

There is 5% of what you do that only YOU can do. These will require your heart, your vision, your personality. Because of the relationship you have with a child, a spouse, a friend in trouble, there are certain things that only you can accomplish.  That will you make the biggest difference, and ultimately in the end, be held accountable for.

The last 5%.

It’s so important that the Lord assigned the Holy Spirit to help us prioritize our energy. He will forbid certain Christian activities that seem religious and important. He will instruct us to delegate, to give away, to build teams. This isn’t so strange. Earlier in Acts 6:4 reminds us that the Holy Spirit did not allow the disciples to jump into the set up crew needing tables served. You must be about devoting yourselves to “prayer and the ministry of the Word.”

That’s the last 5%.

It’s the time I spend visioning others, meeting with key leaders, setting up ministries that no one else can. It’s dreaming into the future, planning how to get there, and mobilizing others in the same direction. It is spending the knee-time to hear the Lord for a current word, a life giving idea, a new sense of His hand at work. It is a word given to a weary servant that had it come from someone else may not have been as impacting. Who are these that need your touch today?

That’s the last 5%.

That’s what makes movements grow forward. But what about the other 95%? Unimportant? Were those tables that needed serving unnecessary? No! It has to be completed, but not necessarily by the apostles themselves.

The Holy Spirit instructed them to delegate and build teams: “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task” (Acts 6:3).

Now it sure would be simpler to concentrate on the first 85%. That is the easiest and poses the least risk.  It can consume our whole week, leaving us feeling "good" about how hard we’ve worked.

But these two phrases “…having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia…” and going into Bithynia, "the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them” … still haunt me.  He refused to let them deplete theri energies into areas of least benefit even though it seemed "religious." 

The Spirit of God guides us and helps us to prioritize our energies into obedience. He helps us to organize our hours into forevers, our daily activities into eternal treasures.

The Last 5%... this is what I must primarily be about. That’s how I must prioritize my energies and organize my time. Otherwise I will find myself in Bithynia serving tables and wondering why God has been so distant lately.

Sounds like His voice is a hundred miles away ... in Macedonia.