I think something has crept into our thinking that says that busyness is the norm and busyness is good. It is at least expected of us. It makes us think that we are important - that we are needed - and that the world would probably stop revolving if we didn’t do all these things that we think needed to be done. When we are busy, we can see that things are getting accomplished. That is good - it is great! When we say, “I’m so busy,” it makes us feel like we’re getting a lot accomplished, whether or not that really is the case. This is what I’m calling the façade of busyness. It’s not really a lie - because we are convinced that we really are busy. And we really shouldn’t expect any different, because that is what we are told to be by our culture. I often feel like I should be busy, just so I don’t feel bad that I’m not as busy as everyone else. And so it perpetuates that I try to be busy so that I too can say, “I’m so busy.” Then I really do get busy and continue the cycle of busyness, never stopping to slow down.
In the recent issue of CBD, I was looking at the pastoral resources, and the majority of them were marketed to the “busy pastor.” There is so much to do during the week that you need this book or that resource to shortcut those things that take the most time. I think it is sad that such resources are necessary. I think it is even sadder that this is the mentality and the obviously expected life of the pastor. Having worked in the world of business for the last six years, it is very apparent that this is the expected life of the business person, too. Cram more in. Start earlier. Work later. Take work home. Drink more coffee to keep yourself going. We continue to enable the lie that busyness is good and the way things should be. That is not the way God designed us to be.
When John Ortberg, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, was feeling the strains of ministry in his life, he went to his mentor for advice. His mentor told him, “Ruthlessly extract hurry out of your life.” J.O. said “Oh, that’s good. What else?” His mentor shook his end and said, “That’s it. Ruthlessly extract hurry out of your life.” My guess is that the majority of us could use this same wise advice. This is simply an application of a biblical principle that God gave us from the beginning, the very beginning: Sabbath.
God created the world in six days. And he rested on the seventh. Why? Was he tired? Not at all. God rested on the seventh day to demonstrate what he expected us to do in life. In Hebrews 4, we are told that “the promise of entering his rest still stands.” The Sabbath was introduced to provide us with an ever-present opportunity to spend time with God. But the chaos of life pulls us away from this amazing opportunity to revel in God’s glorious presence. And too often, sometimes even unaware, we perpetuate the problem by thinking we should feel busy when we aren’t and we refuse to acknowledge God’s revealed method of the rhythm of rest. There’s nothing wrong with working hard and doing your best. If, in the process, we fail to get adequate rest and spend time with the Lord, we will only fired ourselves weary and tired, trying to keep up with the pace, but never finding true rest or true accomplishment.
Anyone who wants to be committed to authentic Christianity, who wants to be saturated with the word of God, and give their all to follow Jesus, has to find the rhythm of rest and expose the façade of busyness in their own life. Something good is going to have to give way. The pace is going to have to slow down. Real rest has to be a routine part of life. Many times it isn’t that we are too busy, but that we are busy with the wrong things. There is a lot to do, more than we could possibly get done. Slowing down and taking a break says, “I believe that God is the one who is really in control, and that he can keep the world going just fine while I lay here and drink my lemonade.” And then, get up, with renewed vitality, continue to do what needs to be done. To continue to run at warp speed, trying to accomplish as much as you can without ever slowing down, is saying to God that we think his idea of Sabbath is dumb and we think we know better. May that not be how we live our lives in this church. Instead, let us seek out ways to ruthlessly extract hurry out of our lives.
