Everybody has an opinion. If you ask people their opinion, they will gladly give it to you. If you don’t ask people for their opinion, they will gladly give it to you unsolicited. Opinions and advice are often handed out like free candy at a parade.
It’s easy to give advice when you don’t have to bear the risk, take the fall, or when your butt is not on the line. You are the keeper of your own vision, not anyone else.
Receiving advice is like eating hard shell crabs…there is more trash than meat at the end of the meal. Keep the meat, but make sure to throw everything else away fast. Remember, seafood spoils quickly, and so does your vision if you don’t protect it!
It’s easy to throw away advice that seems way off, but what about the advice that seems to make sense? I’m talking about the kind of advice that causes you to question the vision that God gave you. The advice that Moses received was endless and mostly unsolicited. He had to sort through the junk like this…
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. Exodus 16:2-3
In order to find the meat in advice like this that he received from his father-in-law Jethro…
Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Exodus 18:19-21
Remember…YOU are the keeper of YOUR vision. God entrusted YOU with the vision, don’t allow others to hi-jack it!
When have you made the mistake of listening to bad advice?
What is your process for looking for meat and throwing away the shells?
Please comment.
Mike,
Found your blog from a post on YouVersion. Cool stuff!
Bubba
Hi Bubba,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. I am now following you on Twitter as well!
Mike,
this post and verse’s could not have come at a better time..as i wrestle with God’s vision and leadership i’m learning to discern between the meat and the shells.. though not always easy.. sometimes i take too big of a bite and end up with a mouth full of shells… thanks for sharing this on yourversion.com God is in everything..
Tim Golden
http://twitter.com/goldeneye
Tim,
Thanks for the comment. I pray that God will give you the wisdom to discern between the meat and the shells.
Peace.