Why Are We in a Hurry?
We could argue that we live in the fastest moving society in all of history. Busyness in our jobs, lifestyles, and even things like social media have us moving from one thing to another with no break in between. But what if someone told you that living such a life is no better than living an addiction? It may be an addiction you did not choose or you may be using your time for good things. However, a life where you feel uncomfortable or guilty not always being distracted by something is unhealthy. It gets in the way of your time with God.
Christians are no better at managing their time than others. In fact I would argue that we are often worse. Between our jobs, families, church events, etc. it is very easy to let busyness creep into our lives. But busyness, even with “Christian” things can be unhealthy. It gets in the way of our personal time with God and prevents us from allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Don’t Let Your Salt Lose It’s Flavor
Balancing our duties as Christians and duties of our normal lives can be a very challenging thing to do. Matthew 25: 19-30 tells us that we are not to hide his love in our life. This parable about a man going on a trip also says that “to those who use what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.” You see, we do need to glorify God in our lives and use our time in life to help bring others to Christ. However, if in doing so we are neglecting our own personal relationship with Christ, we are missing the point.
Letting yourself get worn down will hinder your ability to follow the Holy Spirit’s will and guidance. Matthew 5: 13-15 tells us to be the salt of the Earth and to put our light on a stand and let it shine for all. It also warns us that if our salt loses its flavor that it should be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. We are to let our light “shine for all,” which is hard to do when you are distracted.
Business is an Escape, Not a Solution
Addiction to busyness is often nothing more than just an escape from deeper issues in our lives. Grief, anxiety, depression can all be ignored if we make ourselves busy and distract ourselves long enough. It can be a fake world of happiness and success. But when we actually let quiet in, our brains no longer can be distracted and we are swarmed by so many things that we’ve never allowed ourselves to process or talk to God about.
It can be especially hard to be by yourself with your mind when you are growing closer in your relationship with Jesus. We can accumulate so many negative things in minds and in our lives that the process of strengthening your relationship with Jesus is similar to how silver was purified long ago. In this process, the ore would be heated in a furnace and oxygen would cause the impurities to the surface. Then the impurities are scraped off the top.
When we compare this process to our lives, it can be pretty uncomfortable. That’s why it seems so much easier to distract ourselves with watching TV, scrolling social media, or working constantly for our jobs instead of investing time into working through our issues with God. It’s almost like an addiction of avoidance. But isn’t that what the enemy wants? Us to be distracted and not pursuing our relationship with God?
Let’s Pray
Father God
Facing you is so easy. Facing ourselves, not always the case. Thank you for where we are in our relationship with you and please allow us to pause our distraction to let the Holy Spirit guide us in our relationship with you. Strengthen our steadfastness for when things are difficult. Strengthen our minds and show us peace within them.
We know that the pain of bad parts of our lives leaving is worth it to bring us closer to you. Please help remind us of that when we have those long nights laying awake. Give us comfort and embrace us within your love. You are with us, we just have to invite you in. Please give us strength to look past what the enemy is using against us and see your will and your love.
In your love we pray,
Amen.
