Busy Bodies (revisited)

During the winter in New Jersey, after a few snowfalls, the road would become slick with ice and packed snow. As teenagers, we came up with an interesting way to get around as a result. Sneaker skiing!!! See you’d hide alongside the road waiting for a vehicle to come along (hopefully a truck). Then you’d run out, grab the bumper, and plant your feet while skimming over the ground.

This worked pretty well until you found a dry patch. Then you learned to run… Keeping your wits about you, you would have to release the bumper; stand up and run! Thinking back we ran for our life, not the wisest entertainment or travel method.

Sometimes these days I still feel like that’s how my life is going. I’m cruising along, enjoying the ride and “WHAM”… hit a dry patch. I start running for my life! Normally for me this happens because I get too busy. I get a momentum of moving fast: hurrying along; stressed out by the fast pace of life. Sound familiar?

Some of us have erected a new God in our lives; the God we call ‘24/7’. 24/7 is all about a hurried and busy pace of life. It is fast, it is filled, it is frantic, but it is also frustrating and can leave you drained in every way when it’s all said and done.

Want to know if you’re too busy? If you agree to even one of the following….you may struggle with it:

1.       Have you ever said there “aren’t enough hours in the day?”

2.       Nearing a stoplight, you look for the lane with the least number of cars and head toward it.

3.       You have mastered the art of driving while doing other things, like putting on make-up, or like me, make check lists of things you have to do today.

4.       Do you find yourself eating meals over the kitchen sink, never taking time to sit down?

5.       People praise you for the amount of hours you put in, or for all the projects you have going on at any given time.

These are just a few from my experiences. You may have your own but I hope you get the picture.

God never intended for you to live the fast paced, frantic lives that we seem to have chosen. He never intended for you to fill every waking moment of every day with constant activity. Think about this busyness and hurry in Jesus’ life for a moment. Was He a busy man? Absolutely! Was He running a fast pace? Absolutely not!

He took the time to talk to strangers, to build relationships with His closest friends, to eat with groups of people He didn’t really know, to attend the weekly synagogue meetings, even when the people didn’t want Him there.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Christ has a clear purpose for your life, and His invitation is to shuck off the yoke of hurry and worry and stress and busyness that you are bearing trying to find fulfillment and purpose – shuck off that yoke and take His upon you. His yoke is vastly different from ours. His yoke is one of simplicity, one of meekness, one that offers rest, one that is light.

A yoke works best when the two animals are as nearly alike as possible. One Old Testament law forbids the yoking of an ox and a donkey. In the New Testament we are told not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. There is a principle we can learn here – if one of us is to change, it will not be the Lord. We must learn to walk in step with Him. Too often though, because of our own stubbornness, because of our sinful nature, we expect Christ to walk in step with us.

Many of you today are tired. You’ve become overburdened. The pace of your life is fast and relentless. Sometimes you’re running as fast as you can. Other times, if you don’t let go of the bumper, you feel like you’re being dragged along.

How long will you try to keep up that pace?

How long till you hit that dry patch?