The last two weeks and towards the next, our church pastor, Jack Anthony Sheets, at CityLine Church in Lakewood CA, is preaching on the topic: Make Room, subtitled Quiet the noise, Clear the clutter, and Prepare for greater. This is likewise the subject we delve into in small groups to immerse ourselves deeper on God’s word. For my part I believe that besides the many reasons for our clutters in life, I find two major areas that affect our quiet time and priorities. I am referring to busyness and slothfulness. The biblical model of busyness is the Martha syndrome. When the Lord was guest at the siblings house, Martha being the Type A person that she was busied hersef in the kitchen preparing meals. Mary on the other hand saw the opportunity to listen and learn from the Master. Martha grumbled about Mary’s attitude. Instead of telling Mary about it, she complained to the Lord instead saying that “her sister just sit there while she does all the work.” The Lord lovingly rebuked her and said, “My dear Martha you are worried and upset over all the details. There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has found and chose it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Indeed Mary had picked the best choice. I wonder how many of us relate to Martha or Mary.
On the other hand, the exact opposite of being busy is to be slothful. This means we are lukewarm, laid back, do nothing or procrastinate. We don’t want to rise to the next level of service or worship. We don’t want either deliberate or not to exercise our God-given gifts.
How then do we find the healthy balance in our everyday activities? How do we de-clutter our life? How do we veer away from the foregoing twin misdirecting habits in our life?
Remember that when God bought us by the price of the death of His son on the cross, the Savior Jesus gave us a mandate to win souls. After our salvation, we obtained a basic manual on how to do the will of the Father in heaven, namely, to worship the Lord and be faithful to Him, not to worry but be blessed, to be pure and to runaway from sin, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to be a soul winner!
We cannot do the will of the Father by ourelves alone. He knows our heart if we are committed to His will. If we do then He guides us to follow His son. Though we are not rich in material possessions like the wealthy man who approached the Lord and ask how he can be part of His kingdom, but after the Lord told him to dispose his riches and follow Him, the man rejected the call.
Beloved be aware always that the God of all grace is on top of the piles of our concerns in life. Let us therefore take heart and time to focus on helping, caring and praying for the people around us, first our family then those we interact on daily basis, at workplaces or whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit directs us. For Jesus said that, “whatever you did not do for one of the least of the brothers and sisters, you did not do for me.” We have to continue doing His mandate to us. Then when we meet Him face to face in Heaven He shall say: Well done good and faithful servant!