Be Busy With the Work of True Importance
Are you busy? Do you feel harried? Is life passing by at a frenetic pace? Busy is how I could describe my life at this moment. Many of you can relate. We, as humans, are always hustling, always bustling, always working. When I say “work”, I don’t necessarily mean vocational duties. I define work as anything that causes you to put in some level of effort to complete. Work could be coaching youth sports, planning a social event for business leaders, balancing your checkbook, mowing the lawn, serving meals to the homeless, etc.
We work to attain and to feel a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes we want to accumulate more stuff. Often, we like being patted on the back or told that we've done a good job. We want so much more for ourselves, we carve out time to get more of all the things. Our calendars become so full, we have less room for God. Our time with Him has been marginalized.
Gal 6 is a really blunt whack on the side of the head that reminds of what happens when our work is based solely upon our own desires:
7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
In the beginning, God created work. He, Himself, planted a garden (Genesis 2:8). Then later, in verse 15, God told Adam to work the garden. It’s in our DNA to work, but it was work that wasn’t painful or laborious - until the Fall of man. Because of our sin, our work does require effort, and because of our free will, our effort is often a product of our motivation.
I will be honest and tell you that I’m not always motivated by the Lord’s will for my life. I’m not always putting others first, or always in the Word, or always praying. At times, I am swayed by the world and all that it offers. Possessions, status, personal glory, and that’s just looking at it inwardly, not even mentioning what I want for my family’s life. How about you? If it’s not money, then maybe it's fame or your physical appearance that you work overly hard at. Do you spend a lot of time on your Instagram feed or your Facebook posts?
The Book of Haggai is a good illustration of our motivation behind our work.
Haggai 1: 5 Now, the Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways:
6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.” 7 The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
We learn that when the Israelites were allowed to come back to their land after being exiled in Babylon, they had the opportunity to rebuild God’s temple. They chose, rather, to rebuild their own homes and reestablish their lives with more fervor and effort than putting it into God’s temple. His people were motivated by their own desires. While they did rebuild the temple, it was pretty much a lackluster effort. All the work they did really didn't amount to anything meaningful because they were more concerned with themselves, and apathetic about what God wanted.
Haggai encouraged the Israelites that their motivation is to be obedient and faithful to God, because of His promise of creating a New Jerusalem for all the nations, and defeating evil with the coming messiah from the line of David.
Further in Haggai 2:4, God encouraged the people to work as He was with them, and as such, He is with us. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Coll 3:17).
Just as God described David as a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), we should also have that mindset. We should be motivated to be after God’s heart. If we work primarily to please our own desires, and not that of what God desires for us, our life will be without joy.
We cannot create more time for ourselves, but we can prioritize appropriately. As believers, we should be obedient and faithful because of Jesus’ death on the cross, burial and resurrection. The gift of salvation is motivation enough for us to not be busy with the work that keeps us from loving God and His people.