When Life Gets Busy...

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Busyness. It blurs our thoughts, overloads our plate, and distracts our heart from what's important. Oftentimes busyness is mistaken for success or purpose- two attributes we all covet in our own lives. We push and push, run and run, until we've robbed ourselves of every moment of rest thinking that we've achieved some note-worthy status. But it's all a lie. Busyness isn't some stress to be desired, it's a curse to be feared. Busyness is a gift, wrapped straight from the hands of Satan, given in an attempt to steal our peace, our joy, and our quality time with our people and our God. But it only works if we allow it. 

I saw this curse come into fruition yesterday as I busied myself with various chores and tasks. When I finally crawled into bed, the realization hit me that I had not spent any time in my Bible with my Lord. I had allowed my busyness to steal my time with Jesus. 

It happens fast. It's easy to leave God behind  in the wake of our good intentions. Just because I've filled my day, week, month, and year(s) with well-meaning appointments and to-do's doesn't allow me to put my relationship with God on a waiting list until I have a free moment or down day. 

The sad truth is, I've done that. 

I think we all have. 

Another side effect of busyness is the feeling of never actually accomplishing anything; like you're always moving but never going anywhere. I was reading through Haggai today, and the Lord actually addresses this issue in chapter 1. He was angry with the Israelites for not building His Temple. They of course, as all good humans do, responded with a mess of excuses. He, in His all-sovereign state, replied:

"Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” ... 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house."

The Israelites were so busy with their own rituals, agendas, plans, and lives that they neglected God's work. Their busyness inhibited the building of God's house; and so does ours.

Side Note---Now the journey of life is just that: a journey. We all go through seasons permeated with the stresses of family illness, financial strain, study requirements, job demands, or moments where we're just off. In many of these scenarios busyness is unavoidable, and seemingly unending. We can't help that a disease-stricken loved one needs extra care, but we can help our reaction to that situation. We need to be very vigilant during these periods of life. Never exchange time with the Lord for anything. ANYTHING! The Lord never puts more in our life than we can handle. He understands our necessary busyness; but don't make Him second to anything or anyone. Keep Him first, and He'll pull you through. ---

Anyway, we need to feel the weight of this- really feel it. Busyness is Idolatry.  It's the outworking of us saying that our life and schedule is more important than our God. That's bad. The state of being busy fixes a lot of issues for people just by taking our mind off of them; but anything, and I mean any person, place, thing, idea, or itinerary that takes our focus off of God is not only harmful to us (and our relationship with Him) it's sinful- plain and simple.  

I know that I've been convicted of this. I've been found dead wrong, and I've repented. It's a hard thing to see that you're wrong, but I praise the Lord for His grace in getting me (hopefully) back on track. I encourage you now to evaluate your own life. Are you caught up in the busyness? Is there something (maybe multiple things) that has taken your focus off of God? What are some things or areas that you need to rethink, rework, or maybe even remove from your life? 

This will be something that I'll probably have to revisit again. Like I said, it's easy to get caught up in the busy. But as for today, as for this moment, I'm choosing to set aside my own agenda and build God's house. Pray for me, friends! Pray for me.