31 Days: The Business of Busy-ness

As the weekend commences, and I tackle my hefty to do list, the business of busy-ness came to mind. When did I get so busy? When did it become so important to have something to do ALL the time? What happened to the days that could be spent whiled away in a good book or a nice afternoon at the movies (or the show as I often call it). Heck, I’ve even started a blog series about being busy ( 31 Days of Getting it Done)!! Granted a lot of the things I had intended to do aren’t getting done because I’m too busy worrying about the 546,245 other things I want to get done. See, again with the busy-ness. I recently read an excerpt from Oswald Chambers’ Utmost for His Highest concerning the business of busy-ness:

“The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation . . . . For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.”

Granted Mr. Chambers was speaking of over-work within a ministry setting and his target audience was a group of seminary students, but I found a few nuggets in there that could be applied to my life. For instance, “practical work” calls for constant energy towards that work and no time to really “soak up God”. With a job,a home life, and the misguided desire for perfection, it’s easy to let those things take away that valuable time with God. But I must remember, that allowing myself to be immersed in this “overactivity” instead of being immersed in “the truths of God’s redemption”, I’m stealing peace and joy from myself. When things really do get stressful, and there really is something that causes a huge strain on me, I’ll bend and snap (but not the good bend and snap, name that movie!) instead of bending down in prayer.

So, instead of worrying about the 673, 952 things on my to-do list (yes, it’s growing by the minute!), I need to focus more on the Lord, since He is found within me.