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PROGRAM D-7446
I want to talk about a topic that all of us, both men and women, are very familiar with—and that is busyness! We are all busy, aren’t we? When was the last time someone told you they didn’t have enough to do? No, we connect significance with busyness, and most of us either boast or complain about how busy we are. But we truly need to learn how to put boundaries on our busyness—I know I do!
I want to address five questions about our busy schedules, to help us determine how God thinks about our busyness. The first question is:
Am I busy for the right reasons?
Have you ever really looked at what you’re doing to make sure that you are doing what God wants you to do? For sure, doing what God has put you here to do will keep you busy.
Ephesians 2:10 says: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
If you are a believer, you are here to do the good works he has planned for you to do. You are to be busy doing those good works. God doesn’t honor laziness or wasting time. But one of the traps we can easily fall into is staying very busy for the wrong reasons.
I can tell you, as a staff member in my church, that getting volunteers to fill all the needs of a local church is a constant challenge. So often when we ask someone to take on a job at church, we hear the list of excuses why they can’t do it. Admittedly some are legitimate; I don’t believe we have to say yes to every request that comes our way. But far-too-often the reason people aren’t available to do some ministry is because their lives are filled up with things that have no eternal value.
For myself, I love being busy; I get bored easily if my plate is not full. But I also know that I can easily fall into the trap of trying to do too much and not being busy for the right reason.
Are you willing to honestly ask yourself this question: Am I busy for the right reasons? Make it a matter of prayer; write all your commitments and responsibilities on paper, and then one by one ask God, “Is this one of the good works you put me here to do?” That is how we get serious about doing God’s will and ridding our schedules of the things that God never intended for us to do. It’s how we put boundaries on our busyness.