One of the given conundrums of life in the Western World is that everyone is busy. We all have noble or good intentions to get together with people we have a natural affinity for, to spend more time connecting with God in prayer and reading the Bible, to be more active and get in shape, to spend quality time with our kids, and the list could go on and on. If we are honest, we all feel overwhelmed and live in survival mode hoping to make it to the weekend. Then on the weekends there are a whole other set of options of what we could be doing with our time. There are kids sporting or relational activities, chores to catch up on, and even church. Unless we all become hermits, or go live in isolated communes in the country, or in monasteries, which even then doesn't negate all work or activity, we will wrestle with the centrifugal pull of being busy. Living a full life of significance, service, and fulfilling relationships is a good thing. Living a stressed, reactive, scattered, and anxious life is not God's intention for us.
So the three questions I want to leave with you to ponder are Why are we busy?; What are the right things to be busy with?; and How do we make the choices of what we are to be busy with? Jesus was busy doing the right things. He didn't sit around twiddling His thumbs, or sit in the lotus position meditating all day. Yes, He did take time to be alone with the Father to be fueled for the full life He lived. Take some time to ponder John 5: 16-23; 36-40, and reflect on how Jesus made decisions about what to be busy with. He didn't let other people's agendas determine what He did and didn't do. He didn't let the values of what the world considers to be most important drive His decision making (status, money, bigger and better possessions, pleasing people).
When it comes to church, we are to be the scattered church in who we are and how we live at work, with our families, and with our neighbors. This is where we spend most of our time in a week. We also want to practice the regular rhythms of being the church gathered. These are times to come together to be encouraged, to be trained how to live the Jesus Way when we are out there, to carry each other's burdens, and to worship Jesus. We don't want the running of and or amount of 'church meetings' to compound our busyness, yet as Hebrews 10:23-25 says, we don't want to give up meeting together, but spur one another on to love and good deeds.
So this Sunday we will be meeting at the Schultz digs at 10:30am. You are all welcome. If you want to stay for lunch bring something to share. Please RSVP by Sat. if you can make it.
Have a great weekend seeing what the Father is doing and joining Him in that.
Tim and Esther
