Faith Knitted Living

Earlier this week I was driving and reflecting on just the past few months. It has been a busy season out of circumstances more than anything. I notice that the busier I allow my life to get, the more that it crowds out time with God. Anyone else? I know it’s not just me.

Helping others is a good thing. Doing ministry is a good thing. Taking care of yourself is a good thing. There are so many good things that we can be doing. I am not saying anything is wrong with doing good things. Quite the opposite! When those good things (aka busyness) overtake time with the Lord it shows. It shows up in being tired, overwhelmed, and unable to focus on single tasks. Prayer time suffers. Time in the Word becomes “I’ll get to it later”. And if I’m being honest a lot of the times later never comes. This also shows up in attitudes and feeling like you’ve got to do everything on your own. It’s a never-ending cycle doing life this way. There is a better way, and the Lord has been bringing this to my attention quite often lately.

I love the Message interpretation of Matthew 11:28-30 in which Jesus says: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-WATCH HOW I DO IT. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

WOW! Now, I added emphasis on a phrase “Watch how I do it”. The emphasis is because this is what Jesus has been reminding me. Jesus did a lot of ministry in his life. He had times where he even tried to get away from the crowd where people just followed him. He still chose to get away with his father. He was never in a rush. I don’t read in any of the red letters that he told the disciples to hurry up and get going. He paused to notice people sitting in trees. He paused to speak to a woman while he was on his way to another ministry opportunity. He paused to heal the blind and the sick. Most importantly he paused to spend time in prayer and worship with God.

I think a lot of times as Jesus followers we complicate how to do life. We want to be everything to everyone and join in the fun and busyness of this life, and we forget that Jesus really did break it down for us. Watch him. Do as he did. Take time to pause and spend time with the father. WATCH and do. The last line of this set of scriptures stood out to me this morning as I typed it: “Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Is keeping company (very personal and intimate) with Jesus a priority in your time here or is it more important to keep company with your schedule? Your ministry? Your day to day life that you try to handle without keeping company with Jesus? These are questions that I am asking myself daily!!! Do I need to get up early in the morning (scriptural) to spend time with Him before any other noise happens? Do I need to let go of some of the schedule? Do I need to submit my ministry opportunities to Him, and watch how He did it instead of handling it on my own?

I pray today (and every day) that I can hold these words and learn from Jesus. I want to do this life the Jesus way to live freely and lightly. I pray the same over you and yours.