Portland Biblical Community

I’ve been meditating somewhat lately about busyness. I live in a busy world with busy people, and I am just one of the busy bees. There are always so many things to do, so many tasks to accomplish, so little time, or so it seems. It seems that nobody likes busyness (except for the adrenalin “rush” or when deep heart issues/hurt can be avoided), but I get the feeling from conversations that “busyness” is “out of control” - almost like we have no say in the matter.

A good friend once told me that “busyness is the enemy of intimacy…” I am reminded that Martha was a follower of Jesus who had a busyness problem too, busily cooking a meal for Jesus and all their guests; she was DISTRACTED, WORRIED, and BOTHERED, even ACCUSING the Lord of not CARING - Mary was busy too, but with ONE right thing, what really mattered (Luke 10:38-42).

It makes me ask the question, am I busy with the right things? Do I neglect the most important thing, the ONE thing that matters, sitting at the Lord’s feet listening to his Word, for things of lesser priority? Do I get my worth from Christ and his Word or what I do? In my busyness, do I miss the Lord and accuse Him of not caring? Is all of life an overflow of this kind of ONE thing intimacy?

I think that I get alot of my worth from doing, accomplishing things so that I feel good about myself, pinning my hopes on what I might accomplish for God in the present or future - this seems a bit twisted. I always seem to have things to do or appointments to keep. Secretly, I long for a simpler life revolving around simpler things, like knowing and following Jesus, listening to and obeying his Word…

So many things can be substituted for intimacy with Jesus, even good things (like ministry, evangelism, loving other)… I live in a busy world in which we demand immediate satisfaction of our desires, from fast food to credit cards… There are no short cuts to intimacy with Jesus, it comes at a price, my time and attention - I think that God wants me to re-orient (repent) around being satisfied in Christ, in He “whom the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, in Him you have been made complete.” (Colossians 2:9-10)

Scott