I Can Do It Better

Pride makes you do stupid things. One of the consequences is falling into the “I can do it better” trap. It’s what happens when you look at a situation and or a decision and say to yourself, “I can’t let anyone else have this one, because it’ll just be easier (and better) if I do it myself.”

Here are some thoughts for those of us who wrestle with this:

• If you are a perfectionist, people won’t like to be around you. It’s one thing to give our best effort. It’s another thing to think it always has to be perfect. Perfectionism isn’t attractive.
• Needing to be in control will kill you. It leads to anxiety and fear. It’s an indication that God’s not in control. It will paralyze you.
• If you always do it, no one else will learn to do it and you will always be stuck thinking you have to do it. It’s a vicious cycle.
• If you always do it, you’re denying other people the opportunity to live out God’s purpose for their life. That’s kind of like telling people you know better than God what’s best for their life.
• What if Jesus said, “I can do this better.” Because, if you think about it, he could do it better…but he still elected to give ministry away to others.
• When we don’t let others do it, we limit our influence and impact. Small organizations (and churches) have leaders who think they need to do it all.
• When we choose to do it ourselves, we’re taking the easy way out. It’s harder to find someone else, train them, coach them and check up on them. In other words, we’re basically admitting we’d rather not do the hard work that could ultimately lead to better results.

Just so you know, I’m a recovering perfectionist. This is something God is continuing to work out in me. The crazy thing about this mindset is that it directly conflicts with my ministry calling. Here’s what I believe my primary calling is in my life:

“[My] responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13 NLT).

For me to fulfill that calling, there’s really no room for “I can do it better.” In order for me to do what God is calling me to do, I have to equip God’s people to do his work. Which, not to state the obvious, must suggest that God thinks …

They can do it better.