People often say, the more the merrier.
Everyone is always running after more money, comfort and control. In trying to get these things they end up saying, ‘I am so busy, I am in a hurry, I am so tired, I don’t have the time.’
Have you ever thought about this?
Today I would like to introduce you to a very famous lady.
Mrs. Hurry, she is the one in charge of making you busy and tired. She wants you running and busy, looking after everything and everyone all the time. Actually, she tries to keep you from taking care of what is really important- that’s your relationship with God and your health.
This rushed lifestyle cuts us in half. We are never whole in what we do. We are with our family but our busy mind is thinking about our job. We are at work but thinking about family or something else. We have this mindset, the more I do the better it is. We are praying but our mind is already on the next thing that we need to do.
Pay attention to these questions:
Do you think that everything you do is God’s plan for you?
Is all of it God’s will for your life?
Is this busy life stealing away from your time with God?
Does Mrs. Hurry give you or allow you time to enjoy your family?
Ask God now, Father, does all of what I am doing today come from you? Or Have I taken it from someone else?
Maybe you stole it from your spouse, or from your children or even from your boss.
Do you really think that you’re supposed to be in charge of everything you’ve been doing up to today?
Are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life?
I know everyone has responsibilities as a mother, father, son and daughter, even at our workplace. But sometimes we want to help but instead we take on other people’s jobs.
For example at home: You worked a full time job, and then you go home and you cook dinner, set the table, do the dishes and clean the kitchen after dinner and you go do the laundry and feed the dog. Meanwhile your children are playing and your husband is resting as you work all by yourself.
Is it fair?
But what about you? You will feel tired and frustrated. It will be much easier if you share the chores and at the end everyone can enjoy some family time, isn’t it?
When you share tasks you are teaching your kids responsibility. When we do everything for our kids they will never learn to do it themselves.
Learning is a process, for sure no one is born knowing how to cook, or to wash dishes but if you allow your kids and husband to do it they will learn.
Do not be afraid.
How about at your workplace? Maybe a colleague asks you a favour, to cover him because he’s not well, and you say yes, but you realise that he has been doing this for a long time and he is a lazy person. You have been working double shifts and he is earning his salary but you are the one working for him, but you are afraid to say no, because you don’t want to hurt him.
Ask God what is He calling you to do? Is it your real job or does it belong to someone else?
Sometimes we do our kids homework only to finish it quickly so we can have some peace.
Or you send money to cover your brother’s debts for the third time this year and he never pays you back and you know he is not even a good manager of his own money.
Mrs. Hurry makes we think that we have to do everything for everyone, but when we are in the wrong place we start to get sick.
We are doing “good” but inside of us there is a battle, we complain, we grumble, we moan. Because we don’t pray, we don’t seek advice, we don’t talk before making decisions. We just rush in to help and saving others. Did you know that all this negativity in your mind makes you depressed and it opens yourself up for diseases?
1-We need to learn how to rest, seek God first before we rush to help everyone around us.
Let’s read Heb. 4. 10 and 11 “10-for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11-Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:10-11 NIV
We only rest in God if we trust in Him.
Many times we want to take God’s place and be people’s provider. Remember God is our provider, he is our redeemer.
Don’t be afraid to ask God – Lord am I in the right place, am I doing what I am supposed to do or am I doing somebody else’s work?
Did you know the only way for us to grow up is by facing problems and difficulties and learning how to solve them?
In my own life I realised something wasn’t right. I was longing for more time before the Lord but I wasn’t finding time for it. I was always busy and I had good reasons for it. But I started to feel frustrated because my time with God was little and when I was in his presence instead of me focusing on Him I was worrying about everyone else. I was always anxious and nervous. When I was with my family my mind ran to other places, worrying about other things. I used to think that if I stop and rest things would never happen, because I was the only one who knew how to do them. I started feeling tired and angry. I started questioning myself, self-evaluating my actions and I came to a conclusion. If I don’t stop, relax, I will collapse.
I had to reorganise my schedule.
I started waking up early; having my devotional, meditating in the word of God. I set apart some time to exercise, to read books, to study.
Instead of running around trying to help everybody I call for help and allow others to do things, I started sharing tasks.
Beloved Mrs. Hurry wants to rob us. We need do what God call us to do. What does God call you to do?
We have been using the rush as an excuse. We say yes to everyone and we leave the most important things to the end.
One hurried lifestyle can cost a lot, you can lose even your health.
When we learn to stop, to rest in God’s presence, when we are conscious of Him all the time we are able to go through the bad days because we know in whom we believe.
This Hurried lifestyle is destroying us and taking us far away from Gods presence.
A healthy lifestyle has God in the first place.
2-Finding your race
If you are running in many directions it means you have no goal.
Listen, God doesn’t want you to survive, he wants you to live and to live a life that’s full and good. ( Jo 10.10)
We are not called to run our spouse’s and kid’s race for them. Or even our friends’ and family members’. We are called to run the race together, as a family.
God wants us to run a race, not hurry everywhere. God’s race brings us close to him not far away from him.
Hebrews 12.1 and 2 “1-Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2-fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV
Which race are you running? God’s one or the world’s one? The one that brings you closer to him or far away from him?
1 Co 9. 24-27 says
“24-Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25-Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26-Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27-No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NIV
3- Set goals
We need to set goals, to seek God first, to prioritise Him in our lives.
Sometimes we avoid God’s presence because we don’t believe that he had forgotten our sins. If you repent, He forgets. But we have the bad habit of not letting them go.
We need to learn to enjoy what we have now and stop blaming ourselves because of our past and worrying about our future.
Phil. 3:13,14 “13-Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,14- I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14 NIV
In Christ we have a goal, we are called to be like him, to love like him, to share his love with others, this is your goal, this is your race. The world is calling you to hurry in many directions: I need a better job, I need to fix my family, I need more money.
Dear one, the only thing you need is God, it’s Jesus, He must be the first thing in our lives. Trust He will guide you. He will provide a wonderful job, he will take care of your family. Seek your kingdom first and all these things will be added to you.( Matheus 6.33)
The hurry robs our peace, our health, our family. We lose emotionally and spiritually.
You need to set a time to be fed. To be fed by Him, by his word.
Decide today, I will set time every day to seek God’s presence. I will commit myself to the body of Christ. With my cell group. Coming to church meetings. Our main goal in life must to be like Jesus, and the church is the place that God chose to help us grow.
The Holy Spirit lives in us, he has a lot to reveal, the only thing we need to do is be close to Him. To abide in Him.
Jo 15.7
“ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15.7
Conclusion:
We are called to run a race with a goal, not to hurry and worry about everyone else.
Repent and ask God to forgive you.
Organise yourself first. Set a time to seek God every morning. Put Him fist. Read the bible every day, meditate on his promises. Cling on to Him. To improve your reading you can use apps, there are some that I can recommend to help you.
Take care of the temple of Holy Spirit. A sick person cannot please God. Do exercise. Eat healthy. Sleep well.
Prioritise his Kingdom, the church. The place that God stablished for us to grow. Be connect to the body of Christ.
Mind your hours of work in order to have time for God, his kingdom, for yourself and for your family.
When God alone is our true treasure, reward, and prize; when He is all we long for, seek after, love and adore, then He gives the desires of our hearts. Only there are we ready to fulfil our purpose. No other person or thing can satisfy us like Jesus. So what are you pursuing first today? Will you give yourself over to Jesus?
Let’s stand up and sing this song together and after that I want pray for you.
Nothing Else- https://youtu.be/VAZd3EWu8tg