Busyness

“Busyness is next to godliness” – Most American Christians

I am a busy person. I fill my day with a lot of stuff. Some of it is important. I plan Bible studies and trips for the students in my youth group. I take time to meet and council people in my community. I try to make time for my wife. I do a lot of “good Christian things.” I even get paid some of them. At first glance one might be tempted to call me a godly man. I do all this stuff for God so I must be godly. People think, “He is busy, therefore he is godly.” I am not sure they are right.

I remember when I was in college how I loved to recite how busy I was. I would go through the list of all the good things I “just had to do.” I felt so godly and I think people thought I was. Truth be told I was so busy then and am still so busy now I have very little time for God himself. I do a lot for Him but I spend so little time knowing Him. I wonder how many “good Christians” get to heaven and say, “Look at all we did for you Lord!” only to hear God say, “Depart from me I never knew you.”

If we allow busyness to be our reward, that is all we will get. Sure we will get a lot of pats on the back and get “burnt out for Jesus” but will we ever know the one God we are working for. Do we really think that eternal rewards are dispensed on the basis of how little time we make for God? I think we do and it needs to stop.

I think we say “Faith without works is dead” far too often. We do a lot of works at the expense of knowing God. Biblically speaking knowing God is not facts and figures or even serving. It implies a much deeper, personal and time consuming connection. I wonder how many of us are willing to give up our measurable acts of service for a deeper and hidden understanding of Christ. It is going to be hard and it will take time but it will ultimately be the substance of true godliness that will last.

If we don’t have love…we are nothing.

Talk amongst yourselves

Prayer

I am often amazed at my lack of prayer. I talk to the ceiling often but I think that I rarely pray. Let me walk you through a pretty common scenario in my life. Something bad happens, I pray “God help,” and I move on. Like a hitchhiker or a kid that can’t reach the cookies; once I get what I want I move on with a thank you and a goodbye. If I don’t get what I want I pray “Why God” and then move on to fix the problem myself.

I am finding that so much of my prayer life is really a series of prayer-speeches to the ceiling. I don’t pray to encourage communication with the Almighty, I pray for self-help or self-benefit. I don’t worship God, I try to get God to do what I want and if he does not I assume he is being silent and wants me to do it myself. One of these days I will figure out that silence is not an answer. Nowhere in scripture is God’s silence an indication of anything good. It is usually a sign of the people’s inability or refusal to hear what he is in fact saying. If God says no I refuse to hear it. I will misquote passages like Jeremiah 29:11 so I can get the chief benefit. I forget that it is God who has the plans and not me.

I talk about having a “personal relationship with Jesus” but what is a relationship without communication between two people anyway? People might think talking to God and listening for His answer is insane or unhealthy but I say the opposite is true. Who in their right mind asks a question with no intent of ever finding out the answer? I am tired of making prayer-speeches to the God-in-the-attic, I want to converse with the King of Kings. It is a right that the blood of Christ bought for me and I think that I am a fool not to make use of it every day. I read about God regularly speaking not just in the Bible but to many people in human history. What excuse do I have for not tuning in and listening to Him?

Am I crazy to think that God will speak to me daily if I let him? Why do you think that? Does God give specific revelation anymore or did that stop when the Scriptures were closed and now all we get are vague impressions and dreams? By seeking to listen to God am I opening myself up to evil and sinful influences?

Talk amongst yourselves J

Suggested Reading: Hearing God by Dallas Willard and Prayer: Conversing with God by Rosalind Rinker