I wonder how many times we assume that God’s with us, but we’ve actually wandered off to do our own thing? Does your life reflect any of the list below? Look at it from God’s point of view too, would He say that these things are true about you? Are you…
- Too busy to read the Bible
- Too hurried to get out of church
- Too impatient to download the pastor’s message you missed
- Too booked to serve in another ministry
- Too stressed out to pray
As the pace of life continues to intensify for families, we find ourselves thinking that the days are too short, wishing we had more time, and feeling incredibly busy. In fact, I would venture to say that the most often used adjective in describing the average day is… BUSY. But, when work, business travel, soccer practice, football games, dance recitals, cheer competitions, dinner parties, PTA meetings, and fill in the blank start consuming your days, you could be unknowingly pushing God out of your life.
The devil uses busyness to gain traction on his plan to push God out of our lives. He has had this plan from the very beginning and the scripture reveals numerous accounts of his craftiness to move God out of the preeminence in our lives. Even Mary and Joseph forgot Jesus in Jerusalem when they took him to Passover. They were probably rushing to get home and just supposed that Jesus was still with them. Can you imagine how preoccupied they must have been because they did not even realize that He was missing for a whole day? When they finally turned back to get him, it took three days to find Him. Three days!
What I see in this account at the end of Luke chapter two, is that it when you lose the presence of God in your life, not only are you unaware of it while it is happening, but when you realize it and you want to get it back, it is much harder. It took Mary and Joseph more than twice as long to get back to God than it did to lose Him.
We need to be careful to remain in the presence of God and not to let our busyness get in the way of our closeness with Him. If you are struggling to make time for God, it is time you change your priorities. Stay in His presence and don’t wander off.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Luke 4:8
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