Busyness, Part 2
Last week we started a series on “busyness” and talked about how Jesus made time for physical rest. Today we are going to be looking at part 2 of this series.
In the first part of this short and sweet two-part series we started with the following phrases: “I’m too busy” and, “I’m just so busy.” We looked at the importance of physical rest last week and now I want to look at the importance of spiritual rest. And It all starts with this simple phrase:
“I am too busy.”
There is a saying that goes: “You make time for the things you love.” I don’t think that statement could be truer. We decide what we allow into our life and therefore determine what it is we want to spend our time on. While we can’t control everything that comes our way we can decide what we want to do with it. I believe that if we stopped to analyze the different things that we have going on in our life we would find that not all of them are a necessity. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if we are “too busy” then perhaps we have “too much” on our plate and need to cut some things out.
Lesson number two The next lesson we can learn from Jesus is about busyness is this:
2) Jesus was never “too busy,” especially for people.
“Large crowds followed him there, and he healed their sick” (New Living Translation, Matthew 19.2).
“But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick” (NLT, Luke 9.11).
Jesus understood something very important. People are all that really matter. God loves people, and everything that we do, and the only reason this whole world exists, is for people. It is all about God’s love for people and His desire to have a relationship with them. Sometimes we can get so caught up in tasks, duties, and chores that we completely overlook people. It is during those times that we have to remind ourselves about the true purpose behind the tasks, duties, and chores. When we do that, and really get to the root of it, we will realize that the purpose is to love that person. And if at any moment loving someone requires putting a task down and giving them our attention, then that should always be our priority.
Don’t let yourself get so caught up in grocery shopping you miss out on your kids, so caught up in cooking you miss out on your husband, so caught up in a project you miss out on your co-worker who needs Jesus. Busyness is a tactic of the enemy to keep us distracted from the things that really matter. If he can keep us too busy to read our Bible, too busy to pray, too busy to worship, or go to church, or to be present and love people, then he can keep us from the life God has for us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that to be me.
I want to propose a challenge. It’s a two-part challenge for us all to do together:
a) Let’s examine our life and all of the things that are a part of our life.
Is there anything in our life that we have taken on that shouldn’t or doesn’t need to be there? Is there anything taking our attention away from the things that truly matter?
Is there anything you can remove so that you are not “too busy”?
b) Let’s get rid of “too busy” from our vocabulary.
There is power in the words that we speak. Lately, I have been working on no longer saying “I am too busy” or even making mention of being “busy.” I haven’t succeeded inno longer saying it but, I am going to continue challenging myself not too. I have decidedthat I don’t want to be too busy for people, and that I don’t want to communicate that to them in any way. I want to challenge you to do the same.
I wonder how many of our children, spouses, friends, and colleagues would approach us more if we didn’t give off the vibe that we are “too busy” for them?
I hope that this short series has encouraged you and challenged you. I pray that it has encouraged you to live life and enjoy the people God has placed in your life. Loving people is a privilege, not a chore. And we all have the privilege of loving our children, our friends, our spouse, and our colleague the way that God loves them. So let’s love them well.
Bible translation used: New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.