To the church ... on BUSY-ness !

Just a thought:

Imagine going through a day laden with a 75-pound backpack filled with rocks on your back, sunglasses, MP-3 buds in your ears cranked up to volume 10, and 25-pound barbells in each hand. How hard would it be to get through your daily responsibilities?

Isn’t that us, though? Satan can quote Psalm 46:10 (“Be still and know that I am God.”) and Isaiah 30:15 (“In repentance and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength.”). He knows that stillness connects us with God; and he knows that distraction is the opposite of attention.

The church is too busy and distracted. Anemic faith is our best hope at the present rate. I am as guilty as the next guy.

But guilt is not my aim. Go back to those verses above. Stillness leads to knowledge of the God of the Universe! Repentance and rest lead to salvation – salvation from sin, yes, but also salvation from the weights that torment and distract our lives away from God! We are strengthened as we sit quietly and trust our Father!

God told Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20) that “the battle is not yours but God’s” (v. 15). He went on to say, “You need not fight this battle, station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. … For the Lord is with you” (v. 17). We need not take ourselves so seriously.

What can you and I do, even on a beginning level, to introduce a less hectic schedule into our lives? What can we cut out that clearly reflects a ruthless trust in God? How can we begin to reduce the clutter, noise and BUSYNESS so we can hear and respond to God?

The future of the church lies in our ability and courage to answer and act on those few questions.