Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Why Do We Labor So?

Good Morning!! A friend told me that she feels closest to God when she's the busiest. She explained that when demands are the greatest, she finds herself most reliant on the Lord's strength. She pointed out, however, that unless she takes time for daily worship, her work can quickly become an escape. Many people (like me) sometime, engage in activity for activity's sake and use busyness as a device to avoid facing other realities. Just as alcohol or drugs can deaden the senses to personal relationships, family obligations, and community responsibilities, constant work can be a narcotic too. It dulls our sensitivity to the deeper issues of life.

...My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.,...everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.Ecclesiastes 2:10b, 11b (NIV)

This is what the author of Ecclesiastes discovered, about 3,000 years ago. He sought satisfaction by busying himself with building houses and planting vineyards. But then as he thought about the work he had done, he realized it was full of emptiness (2:10-11). We can make the same mistake, even in the name of the Lord. Could this be the reason some of us try to keep the church running by our own efforts but forget that fulfillment comes only from hearts full of God? Are we laboring without those vital times of worship and reflection? If so, it's time now to worship before we get caught again in the trap of working merely for work's sake.

Never take on more work than you have time to pray over.

Holy Spirit, don't allow us to let what is most important to God, to become displaced by what's urgent today. Amen.
"Since we are intentional creations of God, we do not invent our life mission,...we discover it."

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