Busy – but for what purpose?
It is easy to allow ourselves to lose focus of things. There are so many things that compete for our time. For many, the demands of work, family, social organizations, friends, and hobbies can cause us to become so busy we lose sight of not only our own selves, but of the Lord, too. There becomes a temptation to skip Sunday evening service to get some rest, but instead of resting, we find something at the house to piddle with – as something always needs to be done. We decide not to go to a church fellowship because we don’t have the time in our busy schedule just to find ourselves feeling lonely and missing the fellowship we once so enjoyed with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Yes, we are busy, but what is the purpose of it? Do the things we do bring us closer to Christ? Do they help our relationships with our family and spouse? I admit, I actually had a job where I was putting in 80 hours a week; by Sunday I was near exhaustion. I even sacrificed Sundays for the sake of the job, hoping to do one more task, to meet one more goal, and to achieve one more promotion. Now I ask myself what was the purpose of doing that – it certainly didn’t bring me closer to the Lord or did it help the relationships within my family.
I had to get my life into focus and decide which things were the most important in my life. I began by assessing my relationship with the Lord; I had neglected the special relationship that the Lord wants to have with each believer to the extent that I was no longer praying or reading my Bible daily – I was simply too busy. I had also sacrificed time with my young daughter and wife chasing a promotion within the company I worked for. I was spiritually, physically, and mentally tired and way too busy to take the rest that the Lord offered me. Just as I had passed up all those benches on the various hiking trails, I was bypassing all the benches the Lord had provided to me that would allow me to enjoy the blessings of life He had given me. I was simply busy with no real and eternal goal in mind.
Within the teachings of Christ, the book of Matthew records, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6:19). Once we keep this verse in mind and use it to determine the importance of what we are doing it becomes apparent that much of what we do simply does not create treasure in Heaven but are treasures on Earth. It may not be money but could be prestige, power, popularity, or anything else that has a fleshly appeal. Is anything really worth sacrificing friendships, our family, our children, or our relationship with the Lord? Again, it is a hard truth to accept that much of what we busy ourselves with will not stand the tests of eternity.
My lessons learned
A few months back, while preparing for a Sunday school lesson, the Holy Spirit began working on my heart and mind. Between teaching at a local collage, operating a printing ministry, and the normal responsibilities, I was essentially busy all the time. Sunday between the AM and PM services became like any other day where I would grade papers and do various other items I hadn’t gotten to during the week. After doing this for nearly two years, it began to wear on me until I began to prepare for my Sunday School class. The only exemption that the Lord provided for the Sabbath were those involved in temple worship – those who are in the ministry of their local churches are allowed a provision where their service to the church is not considered work. However, God intended for that even for those, the day used for worship is set aside for Him to be a day of rest for us. Now, as a Christian, I am not bound under the law; Christians do not honor the Sabbath on Saturday but we meet on Sunday as our day to worship God. But that day of worship is also intended to be a day of rest. As I began to study the topic more and more, I came to the conclusion that worship and rest are closely tied together, and this is the way the Lord intended it to be.
For me, it was an eye-opening experience when I began an honest look at the various activities I was doing on Sunday between the morning and evening church services. What I discovered about myself was that common chores, such as unfinished laundry, grading papers, and a whole host of other things that could have been done earlier in the week. I decided at that moment that Sunday, the day that Christians set aside for a day of worship, would become the day that my family and I used for rest, the way that I believe God wants us to observe that day. I’m still learning the lesson of using the benches that the Lord provides me as I do my daily journey. I’m learning the importance of focusing on the things that have eternal value, such as my family, my friends, and my relationship with the Lord. And yes, now when I am on a hiking trail, I do stop to sit on the bench…
