"I'm just too busy right now!" vs God as a boss
One of the things I find the hardest is to put in practice God and Jesus's teachings in the busy 'real world'. In fact one of the biggest struggles I have is listening to a religious leader (whose full-time job is in ministry) exhort us to do various ministry works, when the rest of us are so busy already with demands of a secular job and/or caring for children or other dependents. It is easy to feel that the religious leader is simply 'out of touch' with the demands on our time, yet I know that they are simply conveying the message that is there in the Bible.
So, as a (currently) stay-at-home mother, why did I feel a drive within me to find some volunteer work I could do? After all, wasn't I already justifiably busy with the unpredictable and full-time demands of a baby? (To clarify ahead of time, I certainly didn't feel I was guilted into volunteering by religious leaders). So why did I feel to need to help minister to others? (For those who are curious about what I ended up doing, I am knitting hats for the homeless, and am enjoying it very much).
While I was still searching for volunteer work I could do that was compatible with me caring for my baby, I slowly came to the realisation of why ministering to others is important (even when one has other things one is busy with).
My reasoning went like this: Assume God and Jesus are my bosses. I must have been hired by them for a task (by being put here on earth). The task I am hired for might not be anything 'big' or earth-shattering, but it is a task that will help God's kingdom in some way. Since God and Jesus aren't here in person telling me what the task is, I have to figure it out. At this point, I considered the analogy of someone being hired by an earthly boss (who is not present in person), for a task that is not immediately clear to that employee. At the end of the week, the boss shows up and asks the employee to account for what he has been doing. What would the boss think of the employee that says "Well, I was busy all the time just keeping my desk tidy"? I would imagine the boss would prefer almost anything that would help the company's mission goals, even a small project, than just keeping a tidy desk the whole time. Likewise, I realized that one day, I will have to face God and give some account of myself. I realize that at that point, whatever works I have done (e.g. knitting the hats) will sound small and pathetic, but I realized that I don't want to tell him "Well, I was busy the whole time looking after the house".
So, armed with that perspective, I do find it a lot easier to understand why it's essential for us to do something to help advance God's kingdom. However, it should still be something that we WANT to do, and it should not be at the neglect of our family, health, etc. So, yes, we need to work a job to survive, but I think we need to be careful not to let our 'secular' lives consume the reason we are here in the first place. In the parable of the talents, Jesus makes it clear that he would rather have a servant that does even the smallest thing with his talent, rather than one who does nothing at all with his talent. (For those who are not familiar with this parable, you can read it in Matthew 25:14-30, and Luke 19:12-27).
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
So, as a (currently) stay-at-home mother, why did I feel a drive within me to find some volunteer work I could do? After all, wasn't I already justifiably busy with the unpredictable and full-time demands of a baby? (To clarify ahead of time, I certainly didn't feel I was guilted into volunteering by religious leaders). So why did I feel to need to help minister to others? (For those who are curious about what I ended up doing, I am knitting hats for the homeless, and am enjoying it very much).
While I was still searching for volunteer work I could do that was compatible with me caring for my baby, I slowly came to the realisation of why ministering to others is important (even when one has other things one is busy with).
My reasoning went like this: Assume God and Jesus are my bosses. I must have been hired by them for a task (by being put here on earth). The task I am hired for might not be anything 'big' or earth-shattering, but it is a task that will help God's kingdom in some way. Since God and Jesus aren't here in person telling me what the task is, I have to figure it out. At this point, I considered the analogy of someone being hired by an earthly boss (who is not present in person), for a task that is not immediately clear to that employee. At the end of the week, the boss shows up and asks the employee to account for what he has been doing. What would the boss think of the employee that says "Well, I was busy all the time just keeping my desk tidy"? I would imagine the boss would prefer almost anything that would help the company's mission goals, even a small project, than just keeping a tidy desk the whole time. Likewise, I realized that one day, I will have to face God and give some account of myself. I realize that at that point, whatever works I have done (e.g. knitting the hats) will sound small and pathetic, but I realized that I don't want to tell him "Well, I was busy the whole time looking after the house".
So, armed with that perspective, I do find it a lot easier to understand why it's essential for us to do something to help advance God's kingdom. However, it should still be something that we WANT to do, and it should not be at the neglect of our family, health, etc. So, yes, we need to work a job to survive, but I think we need to be careful not to let our 'secular' lives consume the reason we are here in the first place. In the parable of the talents, Jesus makes it clear that he would rather have a servant that does even the smallest thing with his talent, rather than one who does nothing at all with his talent. (For those who are not familiar with this parable, you can read it in Matthew 25:14-30, and Luke 19:12-27).
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
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