Intro: This is an add on from a short little message I did last Thursday on vacation from a mountain top we were at and I gave more thoughts on being too busy. Then was lead to this thought that one of the prime dangers for Christians today is getting so busy that we up losing our spiritual focus.
Especially as the pace of society hastens, this is a real danger to spiritual growth! Think about this one, most Christians follow this model, we work for 6 days and rest on Sunday where we attend Church, worship with fellow believers and feed on His Word.
But is it enough, that we feed on God’s Word only once a week?
How about this, do many of us do fall into this category? We wind down at the end of the day in front of the TV or with our mobile phones. We sleep and again get up the next morning and get back to the same routine as the day before.
Yet we take out time for other “fun” things, but somehow everything related to God at times, takes a backseat. So this question arises, are we or have we become too busy for God?
Yet more these days I have seen many are caught up with things such as mobile phones, TV, Internet, or self indulgence or things of life and so forth when you think about it, these become the very things that keep you busy.
I am sure it is Satan’s ploy to keep us busy and to keep us so engrossed us in the things of the world and things of the flesh that we don’t think much of our Spiritual wellbeing or to the closeness to the end of this Age.
Satan knows his time is short. We ourselves can see how close we are to the end of days due to the way people are acting and they way they are treating each other, or the way life has become.
More so I have seen how low humanity is stooping where even innocent children are not spared. Since it is not happening to us, we do not concern ourselves with it.
I feel that the intensity of evil is increasing just like it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot. We are bombarded with so much bad news that evil has lost its shock value, we become so numb to it, it no longer fazes us when we hear of such things.
What happens to many of us is, when we deeply sense our need for God we make time for Him. And yet, sometimes even Christians gets so busy they don't study, don't pray, and don't even think about the future.
Yes many needs to make a living, we have to go to work, we have to take care of our family and our needs, but do those things become the focus of our lives? As someone once said, "Don't confuse busy-ness with growth." What about you? Are you growing? Or are you just busy?
Reading: Luke 10:38-42 - Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Prayer…..
Title: Busy Bee’s
Have be ourselves become like Martha and became so busy in our lives or with things in our lives that we are now distracted from the finer things of life?
Have we missed out on what God has done for us because we too are so busy in focusing on other things beside listening or serving God.
Many of us today we have become so distracted, many are now caught up in busyness because were not willing to take time to chill out, or even bother to sit down to hear from God and even listen to what he is trying to tell us.
Busyness is a very dangerous things for us and if were so caught up with it, we can fall into a trap and find ourselves so far from God, we will end up growing cold.
When you think about it, in today’s times many are more hurried than our ancestors were in the past. Yes they were busy but they understood the value of time to take off and relax and enjoy life to its fullest.
Many this day and age now feels, there is never enough time to accomplish what we want or need to do. We become to wrapped up in doing things, but never taking the time out to enjoy what God has given us or what he has done.
Sad part of all this, that many became so busy in life to enjoy what God has created or even done and never taking time to reflect upon him or even rest. Did you know that the bible places great value on rest and peaceful living?
Listen to what Mark 6:31-32 says - And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
The problem for many people is, we do not take the time to get away in a quite place to listen or even get some rest in life. Fact is Jesus himself tells us we must make time to rest and to hear from God.
In closing….
When writing this message, I found this on the internet on a site and it said this. "That Christians worldwide are simply becoming too busy for God.
A newly released five-year study revealed. In data collected from over 20,000 Christians with ages ranging from 15 to 88 across 139 countries said that on average, more than 4 in 10 Christians around the world say they 'often' or 'always' rush from task to task…
The busy life was found to be a distraction from God among Christians around the globe… About 6 in 10 Christians say that it's 'often' or 'always' true that 'the busyness of life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God….'
"While the study does not explain why Christians are so busy and distracted, the study does described the problem among Christians as 'a vicious cycle' prompted by cultural conformity. '
While this may be true It may be the case that, Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to God becoming more marginalized in Christians' lives, which leads to a deteriorating relationship with God.
In which case it leads to Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which draws us to
a conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins all over again.'"
Listen friends, We have to consciously fight against this culture of hyper-busyness, to keep our focus, and spend the time we need on preparing for the Kingdom of God.
If we allow busyness to over run our lives, then we end up missing the most important thing in a life in Christ and get choked up with the cares of the things in this world.
Jesus warned His disciples about this, in the parable of the sower which says in, Mark 4:18-19 - "And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Look we need to understand this message and learn a lesson from our reading scripture. We see that Martha herself was busy and worried about other things.
She was upset and stressed. More so she became so upset at Mary because she was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listing to him rather than helping her. Martha was focused on being busy, rather than being focus on hearing the word from the Lord.
Lets be honest here folks, many of us resemble Martha more than Mary.
Let’s make an effort to make time and to take time to rest in Jesus and enjoy what God has created and done for us. Seek the Lord while he may be found and call on him when he is near.
Now ask yourself this question. Are you going to be a busyness casualty?
I sure hope not and remember this important truth in your life. God has opened your mind to His awesome Truth, and you been called out of this world of chaos and confusion, be grateful, slow down and do not become so busy in life!
Then grow! And get involved in God's Work! And remember never let busyness sidetrack you from fulfilling your ultimate destiny! Be like Mary and be still for a change and listen and learn how to live.
Amen
