More Business Than Time

A common statement is all too often we run out of paycheck before we run out of month. For many people who have little if anything left in their bank account at the end of the month, this happens on a regular basis. They make up the shortfall by doing without or borrowing for an emergency. What if we substitute time for money?

Each of us is given 24 hours in a day and not a minute more. We are each given seven days in a week and not one day more. Unlike money, there is no borrowing time from the future to handle the moment’s crisis. When the time is filled, we have nowhere else to turn. In the process we will have been burning the proverbial candle at both ends and found ourselves exhausted, frustrated, and disappointed.

Several years ago a pastor friend of mine found himself in just such a situation. His church was in a part of town where the population was growing at a tremendous rate. Their attendance went from 125 to nearly 2,000 in a few years. The staff of the church was increasing in size and responsibilities. The pastor found himself occupied with meetings nearly seven days a week.

The pace came to a halt when his wife confronted him and said, “Your family or the church. You don’t have time for both.” Wisely the pastor confronted both his staff and his church with the fact they could only minister effectively to the church and community if they were ministering effectively to their own families.

Where meetings and programs had dominated the lives of the church staff night after night, a new rule went into effect. Every staff member, including the pastor, was restricted to seven evening meetings related to church work in each two week period. These meetings included the Sunday and Wednesday evening worship services. The pastor told the staff this would be their only warning. If he learned they were spending more evenings out on church business than the restricted seven in a two-week period, they would be immediately terminated. He would not be responsible for causing them to lose their families.

Why does anyone drive themselves so hard as to risk the relationships which should mean the most? Two particular forces are at play. They are greed and worry. We want more, and so we push ourselves to gain it. In the process we are blind to the heavy price we pay for what we are seeking.

The pressure may be from worry. Will we have enough? Will we be able to survive a crisis? Will there be enough resources to allow us to retire? We worry about the amount of material resources we may need and so we push ourselves to get ahead. Such an attitude reflects the thought we have no one upon whom we may depend except ourselves.

Jesus assures his listeners this is not the case. Placing our faith in our heavenly Father instead of our own plans and strength is the key.

Mat 6:31-33 "So do not start worrying: 'Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?' (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Philippian church words of reassurance.

Php 4:6-7 Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.

We as believers are called to find rest in our faith in our heavenly Father. He knows what we need. We must align our desires with the priorities of the Kingdom of God. We will find rest for our weariness and peace instead of anxiety.

Honey Bees and Mosquitoes

Jesus talked about bearing fruit on multiple occasion. He cursed a fig tree when it had nothing for him to eat when he was hungry as an illustration of the barrenness of the temple ritual. (Mark 11:12-21) In one instance he said the quality of fruit in a person’s life would indicate the character of the person. (Matthew 7:15-20; Luke 6:43-45) In another situation he talked about fruit that endures beyond a momentary season. (John 15:2-8, 16-17)

We have our own sayings that carry the message Jesus tried to convey. “Your actions speak louder than your words” and its twin, “Your actions make so much noise I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Being transparent is a modern oft repeated phrase. What you see on the outside is what you have on the inside.

This talk about fruit, or results, should lead to a self-examination that includes the question what do people see when they look at me. Do they see good fruit, bad fruit, or no fruit at all? What am I trying to produce? Jesus put a high priority on fruit that made a positive difference.

A significant part of this self-examination is evaluating how we spend our time. What kind of fruit do we produce through the way we spend our time? Are we just busy or are we taking care of priority business?

An interesting comparison exists between a honey bee and a mosquito. We look at the honey bee making his thousands of trips between field and hive and feel admiration. He works with a group to produce food for kin and us. Leave him alone and he leaves you alone. He’s just an all around good guy busy taking care of business.

The mosquito is also busy. He is constantly pursuing that perfect meal, your blood. He is never more than a few feet away from your bare neck, arm, or leg. He rarely lands until he is ready to take a bite.

We praise the honey bee. We squash the mosquito. Why? Because of their fruit, their priorities.

Being busy does not mean you are producing fruit that is good or enduring. God calls us to examine our time, this valuable thing called life. We need to look at our fruit, the results of our efforts, and compare them to what God sees as having value.

You can get real graphic in comparing the honey bee and the mosquito. The bee makes honey. He stores it to be available for the queen and the long winter nights. Then we come along, rob his hive, and we eat off his labors for months to come. Hopefully we say thank you along the way.

The mosquito is only interested in food for its own reproduction. It leaves us with a red whelp that itches and a question about whether it was carrying West Nile bugs. It takes for its own selfish reasons. It won’t share its bounty drawn from our veins with other mosquitoes or anybody else. It is focused on one thing only, contributing to the survival of its species.

We cheer the honey bee. We squash the mosquito.

Jesus said his disciples would produce fruit that would endure, remain, abide. It would be good fruit coming from a good tree. Everything he said about the fruit produced by his disciples was positive.

The passage from the fifteenth chapter of John describing fruit is in the context of the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) There is purpose here. There can be no enduring fruit where there is no love. And not just any love. Jesus used his actions as the example.

Jesus showed his love in his teaching, his healing, his proclamation of God’s love, and his own self-sacrificial death. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He was willing to lay down his life to provide hope of eternal life for all who would call him friend. That is bearing fruit for eternity.

Hiding the Not So Pretty

As I write this, eight inches of snow has covered the ground and round three has begun. A couple of degrees warmer and it would all be rain. A couple of degrees cooler and the accumulation would already be ten inches plus.

Tree limbs are gracefully outlined with a white blanket. The snow has placed a muffler on noises softening the sounds of trucks on nearby roads. The rough edges and ugly scars of nature are hidden, and a vision of smooth perfection is produced. Norman Rockwell would be proud of the finished piece.

That is one of the great beauties of snow. It hides the grays and browns of winter under an expanse of white. We enjoy the serenity of the picture and for the moment ignore what lies hidden beneath. Too often we allow our words and façades to create the same type of deception for the people around us. We do it as individuals. We do it as churches.

For some churches it is a matter of focusing upon the physical facilities. The thought is we honor God best when we keep the buildings in pristine condition. The church building is equated with the spiritual condition of the Church, God’s people. When we look good with our facilities, we please God to the extent required. People and relationships are given little priority. Faithfulness to the church is measured by faithfulness in maintaining the facilities.

The beauty of buildings and facilities becomes a bandage to hide the deeper wound of a lack of concern for the spiritual health of people both inside and outside the congregation. “If we build it, they will come” is a statement that reflects this attitude. “They can see our steeple. They know where we are if they want to come” is another comment that shows a lack of concern for the spiritual condition of others and our own responsibility to seek to address that issue.

Another façade churches use to feel better about themselves involves their programs. They have programs for families. They have programs for senior adults. They have programs for youth. They have programs for children. They have programs for preschoolers, and on and on and on. Unfortunately their system of measurement consists of counting heads, especially church members. Honoring God consists of supporting all the programs of the church.

Busyness becomes equated with spiritual strength and maturity. Little emphasis is placed upon growing in Christlikeness or relating to the unchurched of the community. As in some conversations, if a person talks fast enough and long enough, the other parties in the dialogue won’t have the opportunity to ask difficult or embarrassing questions. So it is with busyness in the church. It becomes a bandage to hide our fear or outright lack of desire to engage the unchurched population around us. Our clean busyness with what is safe and nonthreatening prevents us from being held responsible for the messy.

When we substitute anything for striving to grow in spiritual maturity or reaching the unchurched of our community, we have blinded ourselves to what God has called his people to have as their focus. We put a bandage over our weaknesses and distractions and try to push into the limelight what we think looks good and ought to impress others including God. We’ve allowed those same metrics to impress us. In the process the Church loses all influence in the world and it is simply ignored. At best the world may notice the Church but respond with an attitude of “so what” and leave it to its self-congratulating pastimes.

Scripture has told us what is to be our priority. (Micah 6:8; Matthew 6:33; 28:18-20) Christ calls us as individuals and as churches to be honest with the world we are trying to reach. We show our weaknesses and our faults. (II Corinthians 12:9-10) We show our efforts to overcome them all. (I Corinthians 9:26-27; Philippians 3:13-14) We show where we have to go for help and invite the world to join us in our journey. (Philippians 4:12-13)