Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

Start here

1. Slow down, I want to get off!
2. Is busy bad?
3. Use your time efficiently
4. Sort out your priorities
5. Glorify God all the time
6. Getting to the heart of busyness
7. I’m busy because I need to prove myself –
The liberating rest of God
8. I’m busy because of other people’s expectations –
The liberating fear of God
9. I’m busy because otherwise things get out of control –
The liberating rule of God
10. I’m busy because I prefer being under pressure –
The liberating refuge of God
11. I’m busy because I need the money –
The liberating joy of God
12. I’m busy because I want to make the most of life –
The liberating hope of God

Conclusion

Our Christian lives can be full of good intentions to do more for God, but time and again those good intentions are sapped by the pace of our lives. Sermons, conferences, talks, books all urge us to spend more time praying, studying the Bible, sharing the gospel, building community, caring for the needy, campaigning for justice – and on it goes. But most Christians feel their lives are already over-full. Some Christians, because of ill-health or unemployment, struggle with the opposite problem. They wish they had more to do. But everywhere you look in the church today there are busy Christians.

These comments are from members of my church. See how many you sympathize with.

• How can I balance time between work, friends and church?
• I know too many people – I don’t have the time to keep up with them all.
• Is busyness bad?
• Why do Christians seem busier than non-Christians?
• I feel trapped in my lifestyle.
• Who’s in charge of my time?
• I always seem to take on too much.
• Please clear my diary!
• I feel guilty about the tensions between work, church and family.
• I just don’t want to be busy all the time.

There are many challenges facing the church today. But alongside all of them is this problem of time and busyness. Whatever new ideas we come up with for church or mission, we need to find the time to do them! In his book, The Tyranny of Time, Robert Banks (1983) says: ‘Our attitude to time is not an extra commitment or idea. It is the medium in which everything else is done. It affects everything.’ There’s so much we want to do; so many issues; so many opportunities. But so little time. We could argue about what the most crucial concerns are facing Christians today. But unless we sort out a Christian view of busyness, we might not find time to debate them, let alone do anything.

This book won’t give you an extra hour in your day or an extra day in your week. But it will help you think through why you feel so busy and what you might do about it. It will show how faith in God can make a real difference to the way we live in a highpressure world. When people talk about their busyness it can be like watching someone’s home movie. You get a version of their life, but they’re never in the picture. The reality is that our behaviour is driven by our beliefs. If you’re serious about tackling your busy behaviour you’ll have to put your own heart in the picture. You’ll have to face up to the deceptions you live by and make choices to replace them with the truth.

Each chapter is designed so it can be read while you’re commuting to work – unless you drive to work in which case you should petition the publishers for an audio version!

A friend of mine is involved in missionary work. A few years ago he burnt out, had a break-down and spent two years on Prozac. ‘I thought I could do everything,’ he told me. ‘I could take on anything and make it happen just by working hard.’

The lie: I can be in control

One of the features of the modern age is its attempt to control nature. Many benefits have come from this. Our fields yield more crops, fewer diseases prove fatal, and so on. Our ability to control nature means, however, that we also have the ability to exploit nature. Modern culture shows the same attitude towards time. Time has become something to manage. The promise is this: you can be in control of your life. Diaries, planners, wall charts, filofaxes – these are the tools by which we assert our sovereignty over time. Now they are being augmented by a new generation of tools: digital organizers, laptop computers, mobile phones, online schedules.

One of the lies that drives our busyness is the belief that we can do everything and solve every problem squeezing it all in. The reality is that we are finite.

Only God is infinite. Only God is truly in control. We think the solution is a course on time management. But the solution is recognizing that we are human and God is God. We need to trust to him our welfare and the welfare of others.

The truth: the liberating rule of God

Isaiah 28:16 says: ‘the one who trusts will never be dismayed’. The word ‘dismayed’ is literally ‘hurried’. The issue at stake is whether, in the face of the threat from Assyria, the people of God will ally themselves with Egypt or trust in the Lord? Isaiah calls their alliance with Egypt ‘a covenant of death’ (verses 15 and 18). It will be swept away and in its place God will establish a kingdom built on the firm foundation of Christ (verses 16–17 and 1 Peter 2:4–8). Those who trust in the foundation of Christ will never be ‘hurried’. The image is of people in a flap, rushing to and fro in search of a solution. ...

Labour is good, but labour which betrays a lack of trust in God’s ability to provide for his children is idolatrous. Only through faith in the God who dresses flowers can we seek first the kingdom of God (Luke 12:31). To those who overwork because we are worried things will spin out of control, Jesus poses the question: ‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?’ (Luke 12:25). We can’t add a single hour to our lives, let alone an hour to every day. But there’s no need to worry. Our heavenly Father is in control. He requires of us no more than we can do in the time he gives. And the problems we think we need more time to fix are all within his sovereign care. This truth has wonderful power to liberate us from unrealistic expectations.

One thing that drives overwork is job insecurity. There is a strong correlation between insecurity and long hours. ...

The Sabbath was a reminder that blessing in the land was God’s gift. The Sabbath day was part of a wider series of Sabbath regulations in which slaves were freed, debts forgiven and land left fallow. Observing these laws required trust in God as provider. Enforced inactivity made God’s people realize that frenetic human work wouldn’t provide security. Blessing lay in submission to, and trust in, the rule of God. ‘The Sabbath announces that the world is safely in God’s hands. The world will not disintegrate if we stop our efforts. The world relies on God’s promises and not on our efforts’ (Brueggemann, 1982). Constant work is the behaviour of someone who thinks everything depends on them. Rest is the behaviour of someone who looks to God to provide. ...