7/26/21 (3213)

Last week, I talked about making margin in your life.  Did you do it?  Probably not, because you’re TOO BUSY to make time!  The bottom line is that there are twenty-four hours in every day, but we often act as if there were more.  So we stay at work a little longer; stay up a little later, cram a bit more in and the cycle goes on and on. No matter what we do, though . . . we still only have twenty-four hours in a day. God’s set the length. He’s also set the absolute number of those twenty-four-hour days each of us will ever get. We often act as though not even that was settled and think that our earthly days might stretch on forever.  As the Scripture below describes, they won’t…

Job 14:5 (NIV)

5 

A person’s days are determined;
    you have decreed the number of his months
    and have set limits he cannot exceed.

So, What… for This Week?

Look at your weekly calendar and start to get practical. Grab some paper and list the major items. Then sort it by importance (not urgency). What’s most important to you? Most important to God? Now, begin to cut from the bottom, from what’s least important. Go up as far as you can. Cut what you can right now, and commit to phase out what you must, over time.  If you cut out what is less important and focus on what God wants you to focus on, you’ll be able to live, love and lead like Jesus better in the future!

Job 3:26 NIV

26 I have no peace, no quietness;  I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

So, What… for This Week?

Start to recognize that “busyness” is the enemy of spiritual growth when it helps us avoid prioritizing.  Rushing from task to task means that deeper questions can be avoided – so addressing underlying problems or doing things in new ways can be put off and side-lined.  Rather than helping engage in reality, busyness often helps us deny reality.  For me, being busy had become my “identity!”  Sadly, being busy fulfills a dangerous need for significance, as we want to be seen as someone with major responsibilities, whose time is precious, whose life is full.  Unless checked, our insecurities create an idol of being busy which we build our lives around.  Our need for acceptance becomes more important than our relationship with God and with others.