"It is not enough to be busy...the question is: what are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau
"Building gives us a sense of accomplishment and security, but even the grandest monuments on earth are temporal and vulnerable. Our true security rests with Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible. Are you spending too much energy on projects that one day will rust or decay?"
- From Generation To Generation - Devotional Thoughts Drawn From The Past
On what are you spending your time?
What kind of pursuits or ventures consume your day?
Are they led of the Lord?
Or are they "projects that one day will rust or decay"?
Many people - Christians included - are very busy people. From morning till night, their time is taken up with some kind of work. At the end of the day, they usually drop into bed - totally exhausted.
Does this describe you?
Work is a commendable thing. God's Word rebukes laziness and slothfulness and firmly supports diligence.
But the important question we must all ask ourselves is - Are we busy, being about our Father's business, or is our work simply an undertaking birthed by our own flesh?
Did God tell us to do what we are doing?
Is our busyness energized by His Spirit or our flesh?
What is our basic motive for being so busy?
Are we in competition with another?
Do we work so ardently so that we can impress others with our great accomplishments?
To what end are our many projects taking us?
Are they for the Glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom, or are they strictly for the advancement of our name?
One very crucial key in this whole matter is - does our busyness take us away from fellowshipping with our God?
Are we too busy for God?
Then we are too busy!
Satan is a pro at sidetracking and distracting the people of God. He feverishly works at drawing us away from the "secret place of the Most High." He slowly tries to convince us to replace that which feeds our spirit with that which is frivolous and amusing to our flesh. He desires that our lives be filled with vanity and nothingness so that we do not get the "meat" of the Word and grow stronger spiritually.
The Scriptures abound with people who were busy with many projects, but were their ventures initiated and administered by God?
Look at Solomon.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-6,11 relate how he constructed many buildings of various kinds, planted pleasure gardens and paradises, and built aqueducts and reservoirs and yet concluded that it was all "vanity and vexation of spirit" - "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees...Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."
Is it wrong to build houses or plant vineyards, trees, gardens, and orchards? Absolutely not! In fact, one of the buildings that Solomon constructed was the grand Temple to house God's Awesome Presence.
But there was a time when his heart was not right with God and all of his "great works" were simply means of trying to fill the empty void in his life. In that case, his endeavors were worthless, empty, and vain.
Building and planting cannot bring true satisfaction and meaning to our lives. Only an obedient walk with Jesus can.
Look at the people in the days of Noah and then in the days of Lot.
Luke 17:27-29 tell us - "They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."
In the days of Noah, the Scripture tells us that they "did eat," "drank," "married wives," and "were given in marriage." In the days of Lot, they "did eat," "drank," "bought," "sold," "planted," and "builded."
In other words, these two groups of people were very busy in the affairs of life. They spent their time on matters concerning this world. They inordinately minded earthly things which consumed all their energy and attention. They felt very secure as they smugly counted on their families flourishing in their prosperity and sensuality with no interruptions.
Little did either realize that they were on the brink of total disaster and devastation. Because they consumed their time with the busyness of this life, they never found the time to account for their immortal souls. Their busyness caused them to be totally oblivious to the warnings that God was sending their way.
Let's take a look at the people of Shinar who built the Tower of Babel.
You could not find a busier people on the face of the earth. Around the clock they worked. They were united in their purpose and objective. They wanted to build "a city and a tower, whose top" reached unto heaven. What was their motive behind all of their busyness? "Let us make us a name."
Genesis 11: 4 - "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
The only problem with all of their busyness was that it was in total defiance to God Almighty's Will and Plan. Their pride, ambition, selfishness, and greed drove them in their excessiveness.
Let's take a look at Absalom.
2 Samuel 18:18 tells us that Absalom busied his life with a foolish, insignificant project - "Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place."
Here was a project totally motivated by the flesh.
Instead of being concerned about promoting his name through an erected pillar of stone, shouldn't he have rather worked on his rebellious heart which caused him to rise up against his own Father - King David - and eventually bring down his life in shame and disdain?
Lastly, let's consider King Nebuchadnezzar.
During his reign, he built walls, hanging gardens, the royal palace, and the temple of Bel. He also rebuilt Babylon, making it the Golden City that it was.
Did He build it for the glory of God? On the contrary, he spent his entire reign fortifying and beautifying it for the "honour" of his majesty.
Daniel 4:30 - This is the conclusion of his busyness - "The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"
I conclude with the words again of Henry David Thoreau - "It is not enough to be busy...the question is: what are we busy about?"
Perhaps today is as good a day as any to take inventory.
And now is the moment to determine to make the necessary changes to only do that which God leads for His Glory and Honor.
Copyright 2004 by Connie Giordano
