Too Busy? There's a Price...

Too Busy? There's a Price...

by David Brenneman 

Oh how life can go, how life can be. 

Oh how we think we're up to the challenge on our own. 

Oh how we easily think more of ourselves than we ought. In our abilities and our plans. 

Oh how we pursue things that have absolutely no Heavenly significance. 

Every morning there's the same temptation.  Go do what I want to do rather than taking time to be with Jesus.  Stay in bed a little longer.  Spend that time in things onliine that don't really matter.   There's things that occupy our minds that are occupying the valuable real estate that the Spirit's been clearing out.

Consider that today.  If indeed you've come to Christ, there's no heart-mind renovation going on.  This isn't like what used to be seen in "Extreme Home Makeover" where they force someone else's vision of a dream house upon an unsuspecting family and somehow every time they're overjoyed with the result every time.

Then you read of the problems down the road those families had with what was done to those homes.  The rush to build in such a short time and the quality really wasn't there.  Not so with what the Spirit does in the lives of those who come to Jesus for salvation.  In Romans we read of a TRANSFORMATION.  Taking what was dead and bringing it back to life in a new wonderous way.  Rooms of the mind and heart are cleared out concerning sinful actions, activities and thoughts.  The intent is to never allow them back in again.  But oh how they want to slip back in.

Many people in this world, over the centuries, thought they could 'slip' into Heaven by being 'just good enough'. This too is a lie.  No man comes to the Father (that is to enter Heaven) except through Jesus.  You don't get in without meeting His requirements.

Many people who have come to Christ are indeed like those churches we read about that Paul, Peter, and John, etc wrote to.  They wonder at the fiery ordeal that they are going through..when the Bible tells them what's going on...if only they would take the time to read it.  Taking time to read your Bible is the Spirit putting back into our minds and hearts what truly belonged there in the first place.  Not the junk we thought ought to be there.

Many people have redefined right and wrong, good and bad.  We all do that.  In time, the Spirit WILL prompt us concerning it and it's on us to adjust ourselves to His definition, not ours.  There's many things no longer in my life that have been swept away by the Spirit.  Those things just aren't doing me any good in growing in Christ.  Most, if not all, were counter productive in growing in Christ.  

Counter productive?  Yes.  What good is it to go to Church on Sunday's, maybe other days of the week, and when you're not there your choice of music in your player/radio/CD is only worldly music that's about every form of sin that the Bible says to abstain from?  You are not going to grow in Christ if you keep using the wrong ingredients.  What good is it to go to Church on Sunday's, maybe other days of the week, and when you're not there, in every Biblical sense, you have idols in your homes?   You don't GO some place to worship God, to worship your Savior Jesus Christ, you do that EVERYWHERE.  

You don't go through life excusing your language to yourself or others.  Like the Scriptures say...we USED to be that way but should not be anymore. 

When you're too busy for your walk with God...when you say it ends at your doorstep because your life demands you have it your way...then you're in trouble.

When you're too busy for your walk with God...when you say it doesn't belong in your car, in your workplace...then you're in trouble.

When you're too busy to talk with Jesus whole-heartedly...you're in trouble.

When you set your ambitions towards self and not towards God's calling in your life...you're in trouble.  

Our calling in Christ Jesus...our part of the body that we're to be...was given to US by the Spirit.  You received something from God...and when we aren't using it as He intended...we're sinning.   When we give what belongs to God to the things of this world...we're sinning.  When we make our goals and ambitions more important than what God wants of us in our lives...we're sinning.  

"So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17 NASB

We indeed have lives and careers as the Spirit sees fit...but are you certain those are for you?  As I was challenged to consider a bit over a year ago, so I challenge you.  Is what you are doing in your life...all that is what you call important, all that you value, is it contributing towards your sanctification?  Have you put health, entertainment, possessions, above your sanctification?  Are you so close to the world that you blend in rather than stand out as a Christian?

If you're too busy to have obedience to God's Word be the central part of your life...then you're too busy with all the wrong things.

If you're feeding your mind worldly music that doesn't cause you to think what the Bible says is right, true and perfect about God, about your Savior..then you're feeding it the wrong things.

Excuses...that's what will be the first on the plate.  I can't because of this going on. I can't because of that going on.  I just don't have the time...

Hmm...I keep being lead to repeat the same thought:  Everyone thinks that they have a today to live.  Millions every second have their lives altered in a second in ways that they never saw coming.  A diagnosis that wasn't what was expected.  A traffic accident.  A workplace accident or incident.  Jobs gained and lost by way of a text or an email as has happened to some in recent weeks.  

Do you REALLY want to stand on the statement "I just don't have the time..." when the very Savior and God who holds your life in HIS hands can cause you to HAVE the time?   

Are you so desensitized to the sins of the world that what's going on in your own life that IS sin isn't bothering you?  Pray for your sensitivity to sin increases.

Are you so close to the world that you don't see anything wrong with your life?  Pray that your eyes are opened to the way that God sees your life...He WILL show you what needs to go.  His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.  As the Bible says of itself in the end what His Word has said is what stands.

If you're rushing into today having spent no time in prayer, not time even thanking God for another day...then you're in trouble.

If you're able to objectively look around your world and can see things that should Jesus Himself stop by to visit that He wouldn't appreciate seeing...then why would YOU have it/them?

Satan's #1 go to is "I can't just get rid of that I spent good money on it!"  God says: so what.  You can't take it with you.  It's not helping you to grow in Christ.

We look to God's provision for life in Godliness, not in creating utopia here on Earth.  We're not here to create our own slice of Heaven.  There's no AND attached to the Great Commission.   Paul wasn't prompted by the Holy Spirit to add 600 requirements to coming to Christ as had happened to the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments were not nullified.  Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit."  and "Love your neighbor as yourself."  We read elsewhere in the New Testament of preferring one another above yourself.  When God repeats Himself...LISTEN. 

Oh...my Dear Reader, don't be too busy for your life in Christ.  Don't be so close to the world's way of thinking that people can't tell you apart from the world.

A life in Christ is NOT a wasted life because we don't embrace what the world embraces.  "Love not the world nor the things of this world." 

Never be too busy or God will make you UN-busy.