Busy (3)

We are called to diligently live a life that glorifies God.  We are called to keep His law diligently, to seek Him diligently, and to keep our hearts diligently.  In order to serve God diligently, we must guard against distraction, against busyness.  How do we do this? 

First, we must each define the roles in which God has placed us.  My primary roles are spouse (wife) and parent (mother).  Not only has God given me to my husband and entrusted us with children, I have made vows before Him with regard to these relationships.  I am also a sibling, child, grandchild, friend, and neighbor.  I write for this newspaper and occasionally for other things.  In addition to the roles that I have listed, you might be an employer, employee, or office bearer in the church, to name only a few.

We serve God first by fulfilling our primary roles to the best of our ability.  In Epheisans 5:16-17, the inspired apostle writes, “[Redeem] the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”  He goes on to describe God’s requirements for wives, husbands, children, employees, and employers, calling them to live “as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6). 

 Secondly, we must prioritize within those roles.  For example, as a mother I’m called to feed, cloth, and care for my children (Prov. 31).  These responsibilities entail a myriad of activities: grocery shopping, cooking, baking, laundry, mending, clothes shopping, driving them to and from school and other activities, disciplining them, volunteering at their school, helping with school fundraisers – and the list could go on (and on and on).   But what is my first responsibility toward my children?  It is to impress upon them their calling to keep God’s law, to seek Him, and to keep their hearts…diligently.  “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up…”  (Deut 6:6-7).  If ever there are activities that would get in the way of my obedience of that command, I am no longer being diligent.  I am wandering around, forgetful of my goal, being busy. 

In many ways, I am at a point in life in which staying focused is fairly straightforward.  With six young children, I don’t have a lot of time to be distracted.  If I give way to distraction, that means someone with a hungry tummy will soon be tugging on my jeans or a tired baby will be wailing for attention.  It’s hard for me to leave the house with everyone in tow – that, too, helps to guard me from busyness. 

But even here, I can lose focus.  I can spend way too much time worrying about external things and way too little time concerned with the matters of the heart.  There was a time when I focused more on where our food came from and cleanliness of our home and less on the spiritual care of my children.  In His grace, God gave me more children to teach me to let go of those things that are really not that important, comparatively speaking.  After all, it is not that which goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but that which comes out of the mouth (Matt. 15:11).  Once I read the story of a health-conscious mother who was asked before she died what she would have done differently with regard to child-rearing.  “I would have baked bread less,” she responded, and “played with my children more.”

How can you more diligently serve God in your primary roles today?