Being busy all the time is hard.  I have really learned that over the last couple of weeks.  Trying to get all the church work done, spend a little time with Helene and Rhyann, keep up with our bills and all the minutia that seems to tie people down.

I am by far not the only busy person in the world.  We all are busy.  That’s just the way America is today.  There is always something to do.  What I have been wondering about lately is are we getting too busy for God?

In a book that I have been reading called “Ablaze with His Glory”  The author starts off with a story of a revival he was doing at a very wealthy Californian church.  The revival was not going well and the minister was frustrated with the evangelist and the congregation.  When asked why he thought it wasn’t going well the minister said people are just too busy I guess.  The evangelist replied, if they are too busy for God then they are indeed too busy.  They had all kinds of programs and activities going on but no real relationship with God.  They were too busy playing religion to get serious about God.

PRAYER

I. Too busy

A. With Home-life

1. One good thing about rural areas is the stress we put on family.

a) There are stronger ties here than in the city.
b) We have 3 or 4 generations of families in the community and even the church.
c) We could go back several generation in our graveyards.
d) That is a good thing.

2. The danger is when we put our family before God

a) A good couple once told me that they planned to be much more active in church once their kids were done with school.

(1) They said that right now family is the most important thing to them.
(2) My question is, what priorities have they taught their children?
(3) Each generation tend to take a situation like this a go a little further with the idea.
(4) God may be a very close #2 for these people.
(5) Probably will be #3 for their children or at best a more distant #2.

b) Luke 14:25-26 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple.
c) The word “hate” isn’t like we use it, but it means to love a great deal less.

3. Family is important but needs to be number two.

B. Too busy with work or school

1. I worked with a family who had a son  very talented in music.  Band was everything.  He was in 3 different bands in school and they took precedent over everything else, including church services.  When the boy graduated and went to college his small amount of attendance dropped to nothing.  The mother asked me one day. “Why did my son leave the church when he got on his own?”  Look at what was the top priority in their lives.
2. Another couple I knew started a business for themselves.  They had to work a lot to get it going.  God blessed this man with a growing business.  Sadly, it grew him right out of a relationship with God.  After a while they started missing Sunday nights as well as Wednesdays.  It wasn’t too long before we never saw them in church period.
3. Those are two blatant examples of being too busy for God.

a) How many times have you said work is too demanding to be able to be at all the services?

(1) About 60% of us say that according to our attendance.
(2) Attendance isn’t everything, but when that is the always the first thing we give up in a busy schedule, it tells God you don’t love him and his family as much as you might claim.

b) I’m too busy to do visitation or Bible studies.  That’s why we hired you, Jim.
c) A few weeks back we had a meeting with some really great suggestions of things this congregation can do or needs to do.
d) The only problem is that it was always for someone else to do.
e) We need more workers.

(1) We are wearing out the ones we have.
(2) I can see the tiredness in our congregation.
(3) It’s sad.  Sad because when we don’t have the energy to work for God, Satan gets a better foothold in our community.

4. Don’t let everything else come before your service to Christ.
5. Don’t be like the world and Give God your leftovers.
6. Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.

C. Too busy playing religion

1. That is a strange thing to say when you first look at it.
2. I’m too busy doing religious thing to have time for God?

a) Let me start by saying ministers are the worst in this area.
b) We get so caught up in programs, activities, church functions, that we have no real time for God.
c) The pastor of a large church told of a barren period in his ministry when he experienced no blessing.  Though he was in great demand as a Bible conference speaker, he said he continually felt "dry and tense."  Finally a sharp pain in his chest forced him to see a doctor.  The physician diagnosed his problem as tension, and said, "I can prescribe pills that will bring some relief, but what you really need is to find inner peace." What at indictment upon a servant of God!

3. We all get caught up playing religion
4. Even cartoonists see our inconsistency and make fun of it.

a) "The comic strip Doonesbury summarized this trend very well.  The announcements for the week were being given to the church, and included such activities as a lecture on nutrition, courses on drug addiction, organic gardening, and aerobics.  At the end of the announcements the usual question was asked, 'Any questions?'  To which one in the congregation responded, 'Yes, is there a church service?'  The answer came back, 'Canceled.  There was a conflict with the self-esteem workshop.'"

D. When all is said and done, we are too busy for God.

1. How do you use your time?
2. Every day that goes by is time that you cannot make up.
3. In a comparison of a clock to our lives this was found.
Someone has mathematically calculated a schedule that compares the average lifetime with a single day, beginning at 7 a.m.  If your age is:
      15, the time is 10:25 a.m.
      25, the time is 12:42 p.m.
      35, the time is 3:00 p.m.
      45, the time is 5:16 p.m.
      55, the time is 7:34 p.m.
      65, the time is 9:55 p.m.
      70, the time is 11:00 p.m.
4. We need to be occupied with the Lord not just for the Lord.
5. Eph 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live-- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.