People everywhere are saying the same thing. Actually they have been saying this for a couple of decades now, like they have no control over it. You ask, ‘How are you?’ But what they seem to hear is; ‘please whine about your lack of time?’ Busy, busy, busy, that is the mark of true success. Or is it? Of course it is not.
If you are busy then that is how you have chosen to live your life. It’s true. Who makes your decisions if it isn’t you? But I have to do this and do that, you say. Not true. You do have to eat, you must show kindness and love others, worship and pray without ceasing, rejoice always and tell others about Jesus, which are all liberating and life-giving things to do. Otherwise you are free. Absolutely free to discover and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus bought for us at His death. Sound too simplistic? Write it out, your priorities and your purpose. Do you need all the things that tie you down and use up your life. Do they add to you or take away. Nice things are only that, nice THINGS.
The Bible exhorts us to Choose Life. So that is our responsibility to choose those priorities that bring life and add to others lives. I find that people who are tired often decide to simplify so they start culling activities to try to get more time. More time to … ? People cut off the easiest things to see, often wrongly thinking it is these things that are consuming them. Then they live smaller lives with less contact with others but are surrounded by NICE THINGS. Maybe the answer to your ‘busy problem’ is not the night out you spend investing in the lives of others but it is the constant nagging feeling that you are overcommitted financially. Maybe it is the expectations of others to perform in having everything just ‘so’.
You know I have proved a couple of things that I want to share with you. Kids do not fade away if they do not have a cooked meal every night. Grown ups also survive fine with a weekly evening meal of ‘Toast’. Why do we give some things such a high priority and others like prayer and meditation none. We often hear people say, they struggle to have a devotional time with God, but no-one really struggles to have a nightly shower or to eat. It is normal to think that organizing your kids, lunches and homework and transport to school is of paramount importance but regularly neglect to teach them the scriptures or to nourish their souls with the concepts of God’s Love. Do we really need all those channels and all that stuff in the shed? Is it going to eternity with you in the end? Then it is negotiable. I didn’t say it is wrong, but it is optional, and it is your choice.
Determine what God requires of you; your calling, your loved ones and your gifts to the Body of Christ, and do that first. IF you have time and you want to, pick and choose what else you want to pick up. It is all negotiable. Fear God, love righteousness and justice. Love one another. Examine the life of Jesus. He gave every waking moment to His Father in Heaven and to the people around Him. No encumbrances, no debt, no need to impress. He is the way, the truth and the life. If that seems undoable to you, then ask yourself; who or what is influencing me? Don’t take your cues from your culture, take them from the Word and then you will be like a tree planted by the river of Water, bearing fruit in every season. Ask God, He will help you to know what to hold and what to let go, and do not be afraid, because He is with you, even to the end of the age.
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