Like many of you reading this, as I write we are in Covid-19 lock down here. In principle, that makes life a bit slower, which would be nice. It becomes rather claustrophobic not being able to get out much, and only for specific reasons, and many of us are experiencing that. However, a lot isn't happening that would be normally, which means that there should be some space in our lives to compensate for the restrictions. So why am I so busy? Somehow, life always manages to fill all the available time, and more. How can I slow down and not always be driven by the next priority?
Jesus knew all about this. Mark tells us fairly near the beginning of his Gospel that after a busy day of ministry, Jesus slipped away on his own in the early morning to pray in a lonely place (Mark chapter1:, verse 5). Luke tells us that he would quite often go into the wilderness on his own to be with his Father (Luke chapter 5, verse16). After feeding a crowd of 5,000 men plus many women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish, he stayed behind once the crowds and his disciples had left, so that he could pray (Matthew chapter 14, verse 23). Quite importantly, when he was about to choose his 12 core disciples for his apostolic team, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12). And of course, before he was about to be betrayed, leading to his crucifixion, he spent the night in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46).
Jesus knew that his ministry was not all about doing things. It was important for him to stop and be alone with his Father after hard days and before important decisions and events. Remember that Luke said this was a common occurrence, not limited to the cases specifically recorded by the Gospel writers. Jesus' power for ministry, and probably his sanity in the midst of all the activity at times (certainly his mother was worried at one point that he might crack up under the intense pressure), came from his relationship with his Father and the Holy Spirit.
When I teach physics classes, I know that I need to spend around an hour in preparation before each lesson, or often even more. That's fairly standard in teaching. So why do we think that we can rush from one event to another in an endless cycle - and that includes any ministry that we might do for God - without stopping both to prepare and rest? To answer my earlier question in part, being locked down means that many of us don't travel to meetings anymore, but we can stay at home and log in to one Zoom meeting, or WhatsApp group call, or Skype interview after another without taking any time in between at all. Some people are finding themselves much busier under these circumstances. As Christians, we need to look after ourselves and recognize where the source of our own strength and sanity lies. We need to create time for ourselves and for spending time with our Creator and Saviour. Yes, we need to create the time, which often means cutting out something else or not taking on something extra. The benefits are immense.
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