“If you asked twenty good Christians today how they are doing, nineteen of them would reply, busy. But if you asked almost any of the desert fathers, they would have told you that busyness is a sin. You see what has happened? A vice has become a virtue.” Karl E. Johnson (re:generation online, www. regenerator.com/)
I agree whole-heartedly. Last Monday, a friend and I compared notes as to what we were doing that day. My day was rather light because I have chosen Monday to be my “Sabbath” day. (For those of us in vocational Christian ministry, Sunday is one of our busiest days.) I felt distinctly guilty and felt compelled to explain why my day was so light. (“It’s my off day, you see.”)
I suspect however Karl E. Johnson is a bit too harsh in his exposition of the busyness vice-virtue switcheroo.
The way the world is shaping up economically, it is hard NOT to be busy. The divide between the haves and the have-nots is widening at an alarming rate. If you “slack” you may find yourself out of a job. If you work hard you may find yourself rich beyond your wildest Bloomberg dreams. Size does matter and both the stick and the carrot are enormous these days. We cannot afford to be historical Luddites refusing to accept the contours of the new economy.
But neither should we see ourselves as helpless victims with absolutely no control and therefore no responsibility for how we live our lives.
God’s call to us “not to be conformed to this world (age)” still stands. (Romans 12:1,2) Followers of Jesus will always be misfits in a fallen world whatever the century.
How then should we live in a busy world? Whatever the solution it is not lie with another time management seminar. The beginnings of an answer lie in asking the right questions, like:
*Where lies my true security? So much of our drivenness is fuelled by fear.
*How do I define success? Really? Maybe we could rewrite this question as “Who defines my success?” We may find that we have bought into this world’s definitions of success more than we realize.
*Where lies the source of true joy? Ironically, study after study has shown that those who fall on the “haves” of the have/have-not divide struggle the most with depression.
(Churches and church leaders too would do well to ask themselves the same questions. Some churches seem to compete with the world in making their members’ lives exhaustingly busy.)
The simple answer to life in a busy world is this:
“Rooted in God we seek to live a balanced life, giving adequate time to all our roles (e.g. worker, family member, friend, church member etc.), and for rest.”
These days however, I am thinking that the term “balanced life” is not adequate. Our quest finally is for an “obedient life”, seeking the Lord afresh for what He wants us to do with our lives. At times, our life in Christ may not be too balanced, for example when we have to care for a member of the family who is seriously ill. For a variety of reasons there will be seasons of our lives that can’t be balanced and the Lord knows that.
I suspect however, that for many of us, an obedient life will be a balanced life. If that is the case than busyness is sin. And it is the very busy among us who should feel a bit guilty and should be the ones to explain why they need to be so busy.
And not the other way around.