When Obedience Looks Like Subtraction

For most of my life, obedience to God looked like adding.

   Another commitment.

   Another project.

   Another opportunity to serve.

   Another responsibility to steward.

As a classic Type A personality, my life has always been filled with activity—commitments, to-do lists, deliverables, deadlines, and one project after another. I thrive in fast-paced environments. Much of my career and ministry life has been built in spaces where momentum and productivity are expected.

And for many years, that pace served a purpose.

But lately, the Lord has been teaching me something different.

Sometimes obedience does not look like addition.

Sometimes obedience looks like subtraction.

Learning the Wisdom of Jethro

As I’ve spent more time in Scripture and grown in my walk with the Lord, I keep returning to the moment when Jethro speaks to Moses in Exodus 18.

Moses was doing everything.

Leading. Judging disputes. Solving problems. Carrying the burdens of an entire people.

And Jethro tells him something both simple and profound:

“What you are doing is not good… You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.”

His counsel was clear:

• Delegate.
• Prioritize.
• Raise up others.
• Multiply leadership.

Not because the work wasn’t important—but because the work was too important for one person to carry alone.

That lesson has been echoing in my own life.

The Difficulty of Letting Go

Letting go is not easy.

It is difficult to release responsibilities that have been part of your identity for years.

It is difficult to entrust something to someone else when they may not do it the way you would.

It is difficult to step back and allow others to experiment, grow, and sometimes stumble as they discover their own way.

For those of us wired to build, organize, and execute, releasing control can feel uncomfortable—even risky.

But I am learning something beautiful in the process.

The Joy of Watching Others Rise

There is a quiet joy in watching others step into greater roles.

When someone discovers their own gifts…

When a new leader finds their voice…

When a ministry grows because others carry it forward…

It is deeply life-giving.

Delegation is not loss.

It is multiplication.

And in releasing certain responsibilities, something unexpected happens: space opens up.

Space to focus.

Space to listen more carefully to the Lord.

Space to invest energy where it is most strategic for this season.

The Work That Was Meant for You

There are some assignments God uniquely designs for each of us.

Not everything belongs to us.

But some things do.

And when we release the things that were never meant to be ours alone, we become freer to pursue the work God specifically prepared for us.

Ephesians reminds us that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand.

Not all the works.

Just the ones He assigned to us.

No Regret, Only Timing

If I have one small regret, it is that I didn’t learn this lesson earlier.

But even that regret softens when I remember a deeper truth: God’s timing is always perfect.

Every season prepares us for the next.

The years of building, striving, organizing, and leading were not wasted. They were part of the preparation.

But this next season feels different.

And I welcome it.

A Prayer for the Next Decade

My prayer for the next decade is simple:

May it be a season of strategic obedience. Not doing more, but doing what matters most.

Not carrying everything, but multiplying others.

Not filling every space, but leaving room for the Spirit to lead.

Because sometimes the most faithful step forward begins with the courage to let something go.