A Busy Life

A Busy Life

I got up this morning and went through my usual routine: wake up the child, get dressed and ready, ask why the child isn’t dressed and ready yet, drink my gallon of coffee, take the small one to school, return home, get to work. As my day went - washing the dishes and the laundry, walking the dog, taking the items I had cleaned out of the closet to the appropriate places, cooking and eating lunch, cleaning the living room, mowing the lawn, making sure I’m drinking enough water, repairing the tears and holes in various items of clothing, cleaning out the trap in the dishwasher, chiseling remnants of dinner off the bottom of the oven, bathing the dog, cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, picking up the child from school, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner, getting the child and myself to jiujitsu class, and making sure the child has her homework done and is in bed by 9pm - I realized at 9:15pm, I hadn’t done the two most important things throughout my day. I didn’t pray without ceasing. I didn’t spend time in God’s word. 

There are days when I have to trade off some things for others, i.e. the clothing repairs for something more important like getting the oil in my car changed. Any time I go through the list, however, and think of what I could have traded off for a 30-minute bible study, the answer is always, “Bible study should have been the first thing on my list.” 

We live busy lives. There isn’t a day that goes by in which I’ve gotten everything done that needed done. In my mind, it carries over to the next day…like I have the promise of the next day. But I don’t. None of us do. James wrote, 

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (James 4:13-15) 

Each day we have here on Earth is another precious opportunity to share God’s word. But what if we don’t know it ourselves?

We tend to prioritize based on importance. Our importance scale is usually in reference to current or future necessity.

“If I don’t get the laundry done, Alyssa won’t have enough shorts to wear next week.” 

“I have to go grocery shopping today, we are out of milk. I will need milk for breakfast tomorrow.”

“The boss said I don’t have to have this assignment completed until next Friday, but the other one is due this Monday.”

“These pants with the tear in the knee have been here for a week, they can wait another day.”
It is a future we expect. There is nothing wrong with planning a future. It’s actually encouraged in scripture, as long as God and His will are the guide for our plans, Prov. 16:3, Lk. 12:36-47. God expects to find us busy - busy doing the right work, Jn. 9:4. Jesus asked His mother, “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Lk. 2:49) 

There is a kind of busy, however, that is discouraged in scripture. A busy that takes us away from God is a busy that takes us away from salvation. We often get so caught up in accomplishing. I have many times been accused of having a one-track mind. It’s the human condition. We set our goals. Our drive toward accomplishing those goals is strong, fierce, and with a disdain for distractions. Our worth is often assumed by our accomplishments. Such assumptions are also frequently carried over to our children. We want them to have the best opportunities, so we push them to achieve, to gain their spot in which those opportunities are found. Is it wrong to have such goals? No. We’re planning for the future. But it is commonly forgotten that not only has God already seen the future, He is already IN the future and without God there is no future. Our failure is forgetting that everything, EVERYTHING is in the power of God. 

I have phrases I repeat to my daughter on a regular basis. Sometimes she expresses her frustration at hearing them over and over again, but she will never be able to say she doesn’t remember what she has been taught. One such phrase I use regularly is, “It matters where your mind is at.” She is 12. I don’t expect her to grow up all at once, I do expect her to make progress as she grows. One of the ways that is accomplished is by setting up good habits. I try to teach her to train her mind to focus on the currently appropriate matter. She struggles, as do we all sometimes, but the more she ages the better she gets at it. One such habit I try to teach her is to daily put her mind on God. I teach her God by living God.

-If we are in the car and we hear a siren, we pray. We pray for the officers and first responders. We pray for the victims and for the criminals. 

-I take every opportunity, whether it be watching a butterfly escape it’s chrysalis or seeing one human being helping another, to show her God. 

-Every week, the bulletin from our congregation comes in the mail. An article is usually found on the back page. A moment is taken to read the article and glean from it what the Christian author intended from God’s Holy Word. In our home, we use the Explorer Series from Apologetics Press. She learns her Bible, from both the church and from home. 

All of these things bring God into the forefront of her mind daily. The frequency is just as important as the content. If she only gets a dose of God once or twice a week, then God will continue to be a side note in her life. When she lives always being mindful of God, it will be a blessing that will benefit her throughout her days. 

Scripture depicts two minds in Romans 8. One is that of worldliness (carnal) and the other of the spirit. When a person is spiritually minded, that person understands that everything works according to God’s purpose, Rom. 8:28. As long as we are working according to God’s purpose, Heb. 13:20-21, then all else will fall into place as God has determined it should, Mt. 6:33. When a person is carnally minded, they forget about the next life and can only focus on the this one. Jesus spoke to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Mt. 16:23) Jesus has a purpose - to do the will of God. Peter didn’t understand at the time. Peter also didn’t trust that Jesus understood perfectly what had to happen and what was best. 

It creeps into our heads through happenings and habit that we know just what we need, just when we need it, and just how to get it. Satan smiles when we don’t trust God. He claps when we think we are our own sustainer. He outright laughs when we forget God. And the best method Satan uses to get us to forget God is to keep our mind on this life. When we forget God, we also forget Satan. He is the father of deception, Jn. 8:44. He is the master of disguise, 2 Cor. 11:14. He is the devourer of souls, 1 Pet. 5:8, 2 Cor. 2:11. Satan counts on us being distracted; because when we are distracted, we’re not running our race, Heb. 12:1. But look with me at that verse again. In that same verse, we find an audience of encouragers, the “great cloud of witnesses”. They are the ones that have already crossed the finish line. Keeping their eye on the prize, they obtained the imperishable crown, 1 Cor. 9:25. God has given us their example of faith and obedience as guideposts, mile markers, roadsigns, ridges outside the line that let you know you’re running off the road. And Jesus is the road. 

I won’t tell you to put God at the top of your list. Or in the middle. Or at the end. Fill your life with Him…but don’t just fill your life with Him. Let God be the jar that holds your life.