We all know what idols are, anything you put in God’s place as the main priority in your life. Idols can be things, false gods, people, money…but did you know that busyness can be an idol? In fact, I feel that the western world has long been headed down this road. We need more, more, more so we have to do, do, do and go, go, go. Capitalism has given us the idea that life is all about what you have and with inflation, you have to work 80 hours a week just to scrape by in a subpar apartment and poor quality food. So, don’t get me wrong, I understand it. Busyness can happen easily. Most of us aren’t even busy because we want to be, but busyness is something that can take our focus off the true and living God.
Life has a way of making us focus on things that really don’t do us a bit of good. Worry. Anxiety. Depression. They come from when we aren’t checking what we’re thinking about, like the apostle Paul warns in Philippians. And because of everything in our minds, because we want to make sure that we’re doing more than just surviving or existing, we get busy. And, more often than not, we stay busy.
We get so busy that we don’t make time for God.
Maybe you used to pray before your coffee but now all you do is send up a quick, “Thank you for waking me up,” as you shove dry toast in your mouth and hop in the car. Maybe you used to spend an hour a day in the Word, but that was before family and navigating life with a spouse and now you don’t know how to make the time to allocate to God. But here’s the thing. Who are we to say we have to make time for God? He’s the one who gives it to us, it all belongs to Him. And yet we’re trying to pencil Him into our busy schedules? Make it make sense.
We feel the need that we “have” to do this or do that, and yet we don’t have the same urgency when it comes to the Creator and His Kingdom. By the time we get home, we’re so tired from work and the commute and church and whatever else that we flop down in our beds, close our eyes, and go to sleep. It is common, so don’t feel for a second that I am singling you out. However, why don’t we (in the midst of our massive to-do lists) ever stop and consider the fact that God can handle it?
The truth is that we’ve gotten into a groove, busyness has become our normal and so while we complain, we don’t really seek out a change. We don’t turn our face to God. We lose sight of what (Who) is really important. And that is when busyness becomes an idol.
Like I said, when you start trying to squeeze God into your day instead of Him already being a part of it, that’s idolatry. True, it doesn’t feel like idolatry or feel like you’re worshipping that busyness (because how many of us really want to be that busy?) but you are. An idol is anything we devote undue time and attention (and often money) towards. You feel good checking all those things off a to-do list and somewhere down the line, reading your daily verse wasn’t about meditating on it and activating it in your life, it was about being able to check it off the list.
Sound familiar?
So, have you been so busy that you haven’t had time to dedicate to God? Are you so preoccupied with everyday life that you wind up foregoing Bible study or journaling? The second most important thing is to recognize it, but after that, you have to do the hard step of changing it.
Change is hard and it takes time, but as long as you are intentional, you can do it! Even if you start with simply 10 minutes a day, you are taking a step in the right direction. A few years ago, the Lord let me know that baby steps are still steps. This helped me move past the guilt and self-condemnation that I couldn’t do more, that I wasn’t going full-speed ahead. But the Lord sees my heart, He sees your heart. As long as you’re working, trying, making the commitment to draw closer to Him, you’re headed in the right direction.
Want to talk about it? Send me a message.
