What if you can actually finish your life goals in three years and do what you loved to do for the Lord?
The Lord Jesus showed how you can find time to fulfill your life goals early and serve God even in the midst of our busyness. In the Gospel of Mark chapter one, Jesus was seen preaching all morning. In the afternoon, he heals Peter’s mother in law. And just when it looks like he can kick back and relax, someone comes over to the house. And says, "Lord, I saw what you did in church this morning for that demon possessed man! Can you do the same thing for my kid?" And then someone else comes over and says, "Lord, is it true that you can heal diseases? My wife has been sick for a long time. And I don’t know what else to do anymore. Please help her anyway you can!" And the Bible says in Mark 1:32 that pretty soon, the whole town was standing outside the door. And Jesus loved them. And touched them. And healed them way into the night.
I’m sure that when he finally crawled into bed, he was wiped out. Perhaps some of you fall into bed every night feeling that way. I get to talk to a lot of moms and dads. And I can hardly believe how busy some of you are. Most of you work during the day and weekends. And then the rest of your time revolves around your kids. Basketball practice on Mondays. Tae Kwon Do Clubs on Tuesdays. Wednesday is church practice. Thursday is chill out night with office friends. Friday night is practice night or prayer meeting. Saturday is game day for your kids. And after church on Sunday, you plop down on the couch to watch football. And you thank God that there’s at least one three hour window during the week when you actually get to relax. Then you get up and clean the house. You listen to one of the kids complain about what you made for supper. You go to bed. And start all over again the next day. The question is, "how do you keep up that kind of pace without burning out? Without getting irritable? And depressed? How else can you find time for God?
1) The key is in the small but quality quiet time spent with God each day. After that long hard day, Mark 1:35 says that Jesus got up while it was still dark and went off to be alone with the Father to pray. If you study the customs of Christ, he always finds time early in the morning to pray. The Lord's quiet time with the Father was such that it enabled him to stay so sharp everytime and finish off each day with enough energy to wake up early the following morning. We need to ask God to empower us each day. We live in a busy, fast paced, stressful world. And we need God’s power to make it through each day. And I’m learning more and more not to be shy about asking for help from God.
William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army, was 19 years old when he decided to become a minister. And his Sunday school teacher encouraged him. But as a teenager his health was frail. And so his doctor said, "I don’t think the strain of the ministry would be good for your health. Maybe you should find another profession."But Booth prayed about it. He said, "Lord, this is something I really want to do. Give me the strength to be the best minister I can be." So he decided to go against the advice of the doctor. And he became a Methodist minister. And after that, he started the Salvation Army. And he lived to be 83 years old.
The little but quality time he spent with God that day resulted to a lifelong vocation and endless supply of strength and focus.
2) The second key you'll need to cope with the busyness of life and stay focused on your goal is to learn how to say no to others.
Many of you are burning out because the word ’no’ isn’t even in your vocabulary. If someone asks you to do something, you’re like "Yeah, I’ll do it." And then when the time comes for you to do it, you say to yourself, "Why the heck did I agree to do this? I don’t have time! I’m already way too busy!"The Lord Jesus knew when to say no. In Mark 1:37, the disciples came to him and said, "Alright, Lord. The clinic should open by now. Everyone’s looking for you! Let’s get back to the village."But Jesus said, "No. Let’s go to our other branch. God’s got other plans for me."
Part of me wants to say, "But Jesus, these people love you! They want to hear your sermons! They want to experience your healing power. Why are you leaving them?"The answer is that God’s will was for Jesus to branch out and preach in other villages. And in order to be faithful to God’s plan for his life, he had to turn down opportunities. Sometimes, saying ’yes’ to God means saying ’no’ to people. So before you guys make commitments, you need to ask yourself, "Is this opportunity the best possible use of my time to do God’s will? Will doing this particular project help me to achieve my larger goal in life? Or is it merely an attractive distraction along the way?"
The late tenor Luciano Pavarotti shared that there was a time in his life when he wasn’t sure whether to be a music singer. Or a music teacher. So he asked his father, "Shall I be a teacher or a singer?"His father replied, "Son, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair."Pavarotti went on to say this: "I took my father’s advice. And I chose one chair. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book-whatever we choose-we should give ourselves to it. Choose one chair." Learn to say no to others.
3) Coping with busyness to stay focused sometimes means knowing when to take a break. In Matthew 14:13, when Jesus heard that John the Baptist died, he said, "Time out! I need a break! I need to be alone for a little while."You have to know your own body. You have to know your own spirit. You have to know your limitations.
There’s an old story about a man who saw the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, and asked him, "Why are you wasting your time with such frivolous activity?" And as the story goes, Aesop picked up a bow. Loosened its string. And placed it on the ground. And then he explained, "If you keep a bow always bent, it will eventually break. But if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it."People are like that too. Sometimes we need to let ourselves go slack before the Lord. And allow God to minister to us his peace and his rest. Sometimes the best way to cope with the busyness of life is to get away from it for a little while.
Luke 5:16 says that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray. And perhaps, some of you need to withdraw.
The past week, I felt so wiped out and felt weak. What was the reason? I realized that I have been packing up so much activities in my day and specially on weekends. I had to pause and ask, “Why am I killing myself?” “Why do I pack Sundays with so much activities that I could actually miss God’s voice?” I need my time out with him.
The story of two sisters Mary and Martha in Luke 10L37-42 should help us all to focus on our goal, "37Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
When was the last time you went slack before the Lord? And just melted in his presence?
Have a quiet time, learn to say 'no', and take a break before the Lord. Start now by finding a quiet place and have your quiet time with God.
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