Are We Too Busy?

A man walked into a doctor’s office early one morning. He expected there would be a long wait, so he came prepared with a book to read. After a long time of reading, a nurse approached him and tapped him on the shoulder saying, “Sir, it’s 5:00; we are closing now.” Dropping his book to his lap he exclaimed, “What? I’ve been here since 8:30 this morning and my name has yet to be called!” The nurse asked, “What is your name?” He told her his name; she checked the log and responded, “Sir, we called your name five times and you never answered.” The man was so busy reading that he didn’t pay attention to listening for his name to be called. I wonder sometimes if we haven’t become so busy in our family life, our academic life, our occupation, our recreational life and even our church life that we fail to hear the true calling of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit in our life. Are we so busy that we may fail to anticipate the one true event that makes everything else worthwhile? Christ is coming again! Are you prepared and ready? Or, have you prepared to depart this world in an untimely manner? Do you look forward to meeting the creator? Do you pray about it? I suggest to you that most of us don’t think enough about it. We busy our lives with life to the point that we pay little if any attention to the One who can make a greater life at His coming. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on your guard! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:32-37).


[John 17:16] “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it” Each week we go many places and do many things. This is normal and natural. Christians are in the world and participation in the world cannot be avoided. There is work to do; groceries to buy; ball games to play and friends to visit. The world is very powerful however. Its influence can be overwhelmingly strong. Could it be that the world sometimes overwhelms our thinking and our faith? Our Lord prayed to the Father for his disciples. He was concerned that while his disciples continued to live in the world they must not become part of the world. “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:14-19). We, as Christians in the world, must have an emotional separation from the world. We must be able to critically examine our environment and know what is sinful and what is righteous. We may still be in the world but we don’t have to be part of the world. The Lord prayed that we be kept from the evil one. We must do our part to stay away from the evil one. We must not allow the world to become the dominating factor in our life. Instead, the Word of God must be the principle factor; we must be sanctified in the Word of Truth. We have been left in the world to change the world, not be changed again by the world. John reminds us how hard emotional separation from the world is. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17). Satan will use any and every part of the world to entice, deceive and lure man away from God and his Word.