Just the other night, I called my brother-in-law from California to talk over a few things. We chatted a little bit, you know…nothing earth shattering. It was all just small talk really. But then we got on the subject of busyness and he said something that I had heard a long time ago, but never really gave a thought to it.
We talked about how busyness is a major yoke in people’s lives today. People always judge either how productive or how crappy their day was by their busyness. He said, “People wear it like a badge of honor, but it really is a yoke of burden.”
BOOM! That was a truth bomb right there. Our badge is also our yoke that holds us in bondage. You see, we are taught our entire lives that we need to keep busy. Our productivity is measured by how busy our days are. The busier, the better.
We really can’t formally measure busyness with a figure, but we can measure it by how we work and the way our duties are accomplished. You can have two people with the same amount of responsibilities. One may be able to get the list done in nine hours and say that they had the busiest day of their life. Whereas, the other person could knock out the same list in the same time and have a completely different outlook. It’s all in your perspective.
Like I said earlier, we been trained that our productivity is measured by our busyness and that’s a problem. People aren’t wired the same. Everyone works at different paces, learns at different speeds and no “busyness” can be compared to another. But everyone wants to blame their shortcomings on being busy.
I’ve done it. I can come home all tired and my oldest will ask, “You have busy days daddy?” She’s not even three yet and she knows about that badge that we wear like a sign.
So what does the Word say about busyness. Jesus slammed it pretty hard with Mary and Martha. Go check it out in Luke 10:38-42. Martha was running around like a crazy woman, trying to prepare the meal for Jesus and the disciples and her sister was just chilling at the feet of Christ. Naturally, Martha was a little ticked. She even commented to Jesus about it. His response put her in her place:
“Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Luke 10:41-42 MSG
Martha was so busy, she missed out on the important thing: Jesus’ teaching in her own home!
You see, you can become so preoccupied with life, so busy, that you miss out on important things: time with God, time with family or even a blessing.
Now, I’m not saying that you should be all chilled out and not getting any work done. But you don’t need to be too busy that you neglect what’s important.
Ecclesiastes 3 says there’s a time and a season for everything. It goes on with this: “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 NLT)
God has a plan and a purpose for your life and it’s not to stay so busy that you miss His purpose for you. It’s all planned out by Him, we just need to stay in tune with what He says that we should do.
How do we do that? How do we even begin to understand the plan that He has for our lives? Get in your Word. Get in a church that will teach you the uncomprimised Word of God. Surround yourself with people of like faith. Slow your life down. Don’t just quit working, but slow down enough to not let your plans overtake His plans.
Take off that badge of busyness. Quit wearing it like a yoke around your neck. Quit letting it dictate your steps. Matthew 11:28 says “Come unto me all who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” Get some encouragement from my friend Coffey. Here’s his song “All Ye,” you’ll be blessed.
Thanks for your time today. Y’all be safe out there.
Anything Worth Saying 