Today's Word
"Father in Heaven, help us to honor your name." Matthew 6:9(CEV)
Honor God's name at work
Why Busy-ness is a form of Laziness
Eugene Peterson writes,
"Sloth is most often evidenced in busyness. . . . in frantic running around, trying to be everything to everyone, and then having no time to listen or pray, no time to become the person who is doing these things."
Commenting on this, one very busy person wrote,
"Part of the problem is that paying attention to God requires unglamorous practices like prayer, time in Scripture, and attentiveness to what God is doing in the people around me. Telling me, 'Prayer promotes spiritual growth and will help you be more effective at work and for God' has as much wow-factor as announcing, 'Reducing calories leads to weight loss!' I want something new--a development that will lead to breakthrough. Peterson observes that spiritual disciplines have 'not been tried and discarded because (they) didn't work, but tried and found difficult (and more than a little tedious) and so shelved in favor of something or other that could be fit into a bust (person's) schedule.'
But nobody gets paid for doing this. It's inefficient in terms of workplace demands in a society that says, 'getting things done is next to godliness.' If I don't get things done I'll get fired.
It makes sense that the sloth is the official mascot of spiritual lethargy. I've begun to see my incessant busyness as the set of claws that keep me holding on for dear life, dug in, hanging upside down, not getting anywhere. With God's help, I want to let go, trusting him to show me how to live right side up. My job is to pay attention."
Prayer
“Lord, I am beginning to see that my hyper busy-ness does not reveal you, nor does it honor Your Name when it replaces receptivity to You with getting my list of things done. Instead by busy-ness reveals only a me who is holding on for dear life to life on the treadmill instead of You. I am sorry Lord. Help me to start paying attention. Amen”
The problem is exacerbated in that most are busy doing "good" things . . . and fail to do the "right" thing. In Christ's "high priestly prayer", offered to His Father knowing He was nigh the end of His earthly life when one's life is critically evaluated "in the rear view mirror", He said He had glorified His Father by finishing the work given Him - and then emphasizes in verses 6-19 that this "work" was to "manifest God" to His "small circle of 12". As Pastor Lampl has been saying, our primary "life's work" is the same - to live such that we reveal God, first to those in our "small circle", and then to "those others who will believe in Jesus" because of how we act toward them. Materialism and egoism are our greatest enemies in achieving our "life's work". Someone suggests we critically examine our calendars and checkbooks. Good advice.
ReplyDeleteAs a busy person and a dietitian, I can attest to the truth of the statement about prayer and calorie reduction:) I am reminded of Joy Ritterhoff, the founder of Gospel Recordings. She was a little woman with huge faith, and it showed in her prayer life. On one occasion, Joy was away from her office for a long period of time. When she contacted her staff,they complained that they had so many orders, they were never going to complete them. Joy's instructions were to devote every Wednesday to prayer--THE WHOLE DAY. Her staff, thought she was crazy but reluctantly obeyed. The next time she talked to them, they were to date and got all the orders out! It is an awesome reminder that it is not how much we do, but how powerful our God is. It is He that accomplishes the work! Catching Their Talk in a Box is an story about Joy's life and it makes a great family read aloud. She was defintely someone who lived out a faithfilled prayer life, which can inspire us all. My prayer is that I believe it and live it too!
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