I have found myself very busy lately.
So much so that as I am often working on one task, I will be thinking about the next: Breakfast to chores. Stretching exercises to writing responsibilities.
I want to read for pleasure but I need to read the books for two book clubs. I want to hit some golf balls and go for a walk but only have time for one. I find myself working through the Bible study questions to complete them but not resting in the message conveyed.
I am so intent on working my way from one task to the next that I don’t immerse myself in the joy that each one might provide.
Bottom line, I have fallen into the fatal trap of not embracing the present.
Time is a divine construct. Though God is outside of time, He created time for us, and we should remember that everything He created is good. Time is not meant to be something to constrict us or cause us worry. Rather it is a way for us to assess what we are doing.
Busyness, however, is a human construct. A matter of just filling our day with activities. But having many tasks to do does not always equate to busyness. I am learning that it isn’t the number of activities we have in the day that matters but the perspective from which we view each one.
The Bible has much to say about time and how we should spend it. Yes, we need to make a living. Yes, God has given us talents and dreams and aspirations to pursue. Yes, he has put people in our lives for us to connect with, but if we look at each of these through a Biblical lens, then the ticking of boxes will be replaced with the cherishing of moments.
My reading has revealed four steps that will insure that the things that fill our day will be meaningful and not mundane.
In a world that celebrates success and all the work and sacrifice it takes to reach that success, God’s principles are counterintuitive, and yet, when we submit to His wisdom, we do indeed find that what needs to be accomplished gets done, the desires of our heart match His, and we find peace and rest.
So much so that as I am often working on one task, I will be thinking about the next: Breakfast to chores. Stretching exercises to writing responsibilities.
I want to read for pleasure but I need to read the books for two book clubs. I want to hit some golf balls and go for a walk but only have time for one. I find myself working through the Bible study questions to complete them but not resting in the message conveyed.
I am so intent on working my way from one task to the next that I don’t immerse myself in the joy that each one might provide.
Bottom line, I have fallen into the fatal trap of not embracing the present.
Time is a divine construct. Though God is outside of time, He created time for us, and we should remember that everything He created is good. Time is not meant to be something to constrict us or cause us worry. Rather it is a way for us to assess what we are doing.
Busyness, however, is a human construct. A matter of just filling our day with activities. But having many tasks to do does not always equate to busyness. I am learning that it isn’t the number of activities we have in the day that matters but the perspective from which we view each one.
The Bible has much to say about time and how we should spend it. Yes, we need to make a living. Yes, God has given us talents and dreams and aspirations to pursue. Yes, he has put people in our lives for us to connect with, but if we look at each of these through a Biblical lens, then the ticking of boxes will be replaced with the cherishing of moments.
My reading has revealed four steps that will insure that the things that fill our day will be meaningful and not mundane.
- Seek God First (Matthew 6:33): Worship, prayer, devotions, Bible reading, and committing the day’s plans into his care. Any time spent with God is never wasted and provides a firm foundation for the day.
- Loving and Serving Others (Matthew 22:37-39): Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is something both grounding and freeing when we take our eyes off of only ourselves and bring others into the picture.
- Fulfilling God’s Purposes (rather than ours) Colossians 3:23 reminds us that whatever we do, we should do for the Lord, and Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God has created us for good works he prepared beforehand. Both remind us that God is in control of the results.
- Resting In Christ (Genesis and Exodus 20:8) God rested on the seventh day not because he was tired but to show us how important it is to rest and then He commanded us to rest. There is no shame in resting.
In a world that celebrates success and all the work and sacrifice it takes to reach that success, God’s principles are counterintuitive, and yet, when we submit to His wisdom, we do indeed find that what needs to be accomplished gets done, the desires of our heart match His, and we find peace and rest.
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