Are You Too Busy?

PROGRAM W-1766

I much prefer to be busy rather than to have nothing interesting or important to do. I find that a full schedule forces me to be efficient, to manage my time more carefully and, therefore, to get more accomplished.

Frankly, I would be miserable if I were not busy. God designed us to be busy. Jesus was busy; the disciples were busy. They were no doubt stressed out at times. I don’t believe you’ll ever meet or know anyone whom you admire who is not a busy person.

But I want to take a look at the downside of busyness—the potential bondage of busyness, and the traps that are ready to swallow us up if we don’t know how to set boundaries on busyness.

As I see it—at least for myself—busyness issues come down to six questions we need to ask ourselves.

1. Am I busy for the right reasons?

This question will cause you to look at what you’re doing and make sure you are doing what God wants you to do. It will cause you to examine your priorities. It should cause you to pray more about your activities and where you’re expending your time and energy.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

God has a to-do list for you and you will be busy when you know and do God’s will. For sure, God does not approve of laziness or sitting on the sidelines and letting everyone else do the work. He wants us to be busy—but busy doing the right things, the things he has prepared in advance for each of us to do.

If you’re busy just to achieve personal success, to prove something, or because you need to win the approval of someone else, then you’re busy for the wrong reasons. This kind of busyness will lead to burnout and stress, and will never give the satisfaction you’re looking for.

2. Has busyness become my identity?

We live in a world that honors busyness and judges people based on how busy they are. It is very easy to get caught up in this busy cycle as a sense of who we are. Since I tend to over-schedule at times—and setting boundaries on my own busyness continues to be a challenge—I often do a self-check and make sure my self-worth is not based on my busyness. For me, this means offering up to God all I’m doing, and once again acknowledging that I am not my own and my schedule is not my own. My heavenly Father has a perfect right to change my schedule, to slow me down, and to put me in another place with a totally different agenda.

If you frequently talk about how busy you are and you’re uncomfortable or feel guilty when you have a free moment to yourself, it could be that you’ve allowed busyness to become your identity, your sense of well-being. That is not a good place to be.

3. Do I take pride in my busyness?

Have you noticed how some people play one-upsmanship about how busy they are? They seem to be in competition to win the prize as the busiest person.

Some years ago, God began to reveal to me that I actually could be addicted to busyness, and I did take pride in it. People would make comments about my busyness, and I would take that as a compliment. But then I began to see that being recognized for being busy was not necessarily a good thing. Did I really want that kind of image, such that people just thought of me as busy?

I began to pray about this tendency. I also became intentional about not talking about how busy I was. Honestly, now I really cringe if anyone says something about how busy I am. First of all, I’m not that much busier than anyone else, but more importantly, that’s not how I want to be seen.

In fact, I worked at changing my attitude toward my busyness. Instead of thinking of all I had to do and giving a litany of my to-do list as a point of pride and/or a complaint, I began to say, “Aren’t you blessed to have a lot to do today? Wouldn’t you be miserable if you had nothing of value to do today? It is a blessing that you have more to do than you’ll get done.”

It really does change your attitude and releases a lot of the stress of busyness to change your thinking in that way.

4. Do I set appropriate boundaries on my busyness?

Here’s a news flash: You are not called to meet everyone’s need. If you don’t learn how to set boundaries on your busyness, you will heap lots of stress on yourself, and your busyness will be way out of bounds. Jesus knew how to say, “It’s not my job.” When asked to settle an argument between two brothers, he informed them that he was not called to do that. When the disciples urged him to go speak to a certain town that had gathered to hear him, he insisted that his call for that day was to go to another town, so he walked away—I’m sure many of those people were disappointed.

While on earth, Jesus was limited to a human body and he knew how to set boundaries on his busyness. He knew when he needed some down time with his disciples. He understood he needed a Sabbath rest—a day of down time. And because he set boundaries, he was able to do what the Father sent him to do, such that at the end of his short ministry, he could say he had accomplished everything the Father intended for him to do. There were no regrets.

Setting boundaries on our busyness requires prayer and wisdom from above. We’ll also need to learn how to say no! But that’s the only way we can live with no regrets.

5. Do I stay busy in order to avoid issues that need to be confronted?

For ten years of my life, I ran from the lordship of Jesus in my life, doing my own thing, seeking what I thought I had to have in order to be happy, trying to be very successful, etc. In order to avoid the convicting voice of God in my life, I used busyness as my escape hatch. I simply programmed every minute of my days to avoid thinking time, and to avoid any confrontation with my conscience and with God’s Spirit.

Thankfully, God’s Spirit hounded me and never gave up. Even though it took far too long for me to realize how harmful and stupid my lifestyle was, God gave me a second chance and has restored to me the years the locust have eaten, as we read in Joel 2:25. I want to urge you not to do what I did. If busyness is your way of running from God, I can tell you that you can’t run fast enough or far enough. The smartest thing you can do is stop where you are, and come back into the open and forgiving arms of the Lord Jesus.

6. Is my busyness an obstacle to my spiritual growth?

My guess is that busyness is the most common excuse we Christians use for not spending quality time with the eternal God—reading and studying his word, and making prayer a very high priority every day. Are you too busy for time with God? Is that what falls through the cracks when the schedule gets heavy?

If you’re too busy to spend time with God, you’re simply too busy. It’s my belief that we generally manage to do what we really want to do, so if knowing God is a passion of your heart, you will make time for personal time with God each day. It won’t just happen; you have to plan it and be disciplined about it.

Those are the six questions which will help you determine if you are too busy, or if you’re busy for the wrong reasons.

In addition to these concerns, the following several attitudes may also be exacerbating your busyness which would also need to be addressed.

1. Poor time management

If you’re not disciplined and wise in the management of your time, it could be you’re just not organized well enough to get done what you should do. Here are some simple disciplines which will help improve your time management:

• Whatever you have to do today that you don’t want to do, do it first.
• Eliminate as many interruptions as possible.
• Finish one job before you start another, if possible.
• Always have a plan for your day. You may not be able to follow it exactly, but if you start with a plan—prioritizing your activities for the day—you’re much more likely to get things done more quickly and in a more orderly fashion.

2. Procrastination

This is probably one of the main enemies of getting things done—putting off until later what could and should be done now. Procrastination will get you every time. One simple  motto can help you overcome this very bad habit: “Do it right and do it now!” If there’s no good reason to put it off, you will realize great benefits from simply doing it right and doing it now.

3. Perfectionistic tendencies

Trying to do everything to total perfection is rarely necessary, often time consuming, and not worth the time and effort involved. Working with excellence is our standard, but total perfection can be a real pitfall—a time-consuming addiction which makes us feel good, perhaps, but doesn’t necessarily add value.

Here are two verses which give us some important guidelines for our busy lives:

 “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

 “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:4

There is a tension in Scripture between abounding in the work God has given us to do, while at the same time abiding in the vine, resting in the Lord, and finding rest for our souls. I think it is a tension we will struggle with until we are in heaven, in resurrected bodies, with endless time and perfect understanding. Until then, as we grow up in Jesus, we must continue to learn how to keep the tension at the right level.

I hope these thoughts on busyness will help you to answer the question, Am I too busy?