What I'm going to talk to you about may sound a bit mystical. What I'm going to talk to you about may challenge you personally, and will certainly stand in opposition to our culture. What I'm going to talk to you about will almost never be viewed as a popular thing. What I'm going to talk to you about is at the core of American culture. What I'm going to talk to you about is at the core of modern society. What I'm about to talk to you about is a sickness - a disease. What I'm going to talk to you about today is fear, disguised in heroism and self-importance. What I'm going to talk to you about today is at the root of the death of critical thought, true creativity, and most importantly - spiritual growth and maturity.
What I'm compelled to talk about today is our obsession with "busyness".
Stop and think for a moment. Is not busyness one of the prime cultural values we have? I'm not talking about diligence - I'm talking about busyness. Diligence is careful and persistent work or effort, whereas busyness is the quality of simply being busy. We spend every day, packed to the brim with activity - both meaningful and meaningless. Even our amounts of "down time" are filled by social media, hollow and unproductive hobbies, movies, television, etc... You name it.
In a world where we often spend much time and money on down time, we have lost the core of what it means to rest. In a world where we spend year upon year in colleges and jobs learning day in and day out, we have lost the capacity to truly think and engage life within our own minds. In a world where Christ-followers will spend weekends at conferences or countless hours listening to worship music, podcasts, or speakers, we have lost our capacity to interact with God on His terms and in the quiet. In a world where we are constantly told that obtaining self-esteem is King, we have buried our inadequacy in a frenzy of activity and have become petrified to face ourselves.
Fear.
Fear is what drives our obsession with busyness.
We are primarily afraid to face ourselves. When we stop and think in absolute mental quietude, with no tasks or amusements to obscure reality, we are brought face to face with ourselves. We get to see ourselves and our heart, unpixelated, with no perfume or glamour, with no positive self-image or motivational platitudes - we see ourselves in the raw reality of our humanity. We see ourselves, and it frightens us. Suddenly, no task or accomplishment is relevant. No humor or kindness is enough to mask the bitter truth of the unedited "me" that I see. This is why so many of us become obsessed with ourselves and our "tasks", "responsibilities", "occupations", "roles", "goals", or "dreams" - distractions that speak sweet lies over our inadequacy. As long as we stay busy, we get to feel good about ourselves. We even heap needless stress on ourselves like some sadist who can't slake his lust for self-inflicted pain. The unspoken truth that we believe is that even this pain and stress is better than having to face ourselves in the quiet.
But we are not just afraid of ourselves. We are afraid of God, and we have to listen to Him when we quiet ourselves. We have to recall His truth and are brought to our knees when we see our inadequacy in stark comparison to His adequacy. When we are brought to face His truth, the lies that we adopt into our thinking and feelings begin to squirm. If only we would stay here long enough to deal with these lies, instead of quickly retreating and allowing the parasites of untruth to remain unchallenged.
We are afraid to trust God's sufficiency. I am afraid to trust God's sufficiency. When I feel the need for love, or peace, or comfort, or direction, I prefer to trust the works and busyness of my own life rather than to relinquish control to the "known unknown" that is God's goodness, character, and plan. I would rather delve into the emptiness of vain work than to make Him and His abundant grace my joy.
We are lastly afraid to trust God's work in us. We look at ourselves and see where we are, but so often neglect to see where we have come from and the promises of God about where He is taking us. When we only look at our present state, we become even more depressed about our failings and even less trusting of our heavenly Father. How do I know? This is the exact pitfall that I stumble into, sometimes far too often to admit. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. If we were honest with each other, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of us that get depressed when we stop and face ourselves and face God.
But this was never meant to be.
Truth: God IS sufficient to our every need.
Truth: God IS at work in us, changing us and shaping us to be more like Christ.
Truth: With God's redemption, we know that He is the dearest friend we can have, and that He covers every iota of failure that we have.
Truth: We have no excuse to sacrifice the richness of time spent learning who God is and who He has made the "new creation" inside of us to be.
Truth: It's about time that we stop wallowing in the sadistic habits of busyness just to avoid ourselves and God.
Truth: My God, I am not - but You are.
If we do not get over ourselves and learn to spend time now in thought, meditation, and prayer - time alone with our unedited self and with our King - we will squander this abundant life that He has given us. We will take the gifts and joy He has given us, and we will never use them. We will be content to bury these good things in the basement of our lives just so that we never have to confront the lies in our lives.
We will always have slow (or no) spiritual growth in our lives if we do not make these mental and spiritual habits of self-confrontation and communion with God intentional. We need to take time away from our own self-importance to let Him speak into our lives.
We need a mid-life crisis.
Not the Harley Davidson or wardrobe transformation mid-life crisis. Not the vacation home in Hawaii or the grandchildren obsession mid-life crisis. The crisis that questions a life spent. The crisis that wonders if you've left a legacy. The crisis that makes you ask if what you've done was meaningful. The crisis that makes you ask who you are. I think people are forced to this crisis point at retirement because they're suddenly forced to slow down and reflect. They're suddenly alone, with no curtain of tasks or roles to hide behind. They've finally grown up.
Why does it have to take 55 years of our lives to get there?
It doesn't.
I'm calling mid-life crisis displaced reflection. It's a displaced self-realization. It's a displaced God-realization. We try to fill it with many things, but that's the purpose of the crisis. It's a tension that we were always meant to feel. We still would, if we weren't injecting ourselves with the numbing drug of the lies about God and about ourselves.
It's time to go cold-turkey.
This is where you won't be popular.
When you decide to tell people "no" because you need to spend your time more wisely. When you don't keep in touch with people every 2 seconds on facebook because you were away from your computer or smartphone thinking about God's identity that He's placed in you. When you miss some inconsequential work event because you took the time to get away and to think and pray.
People won't understand.
They'll think you're lazy.
They'll think your priorities are screwed up.
But the truth is, we need this. We need it more than the cheap veneer of pleasant lies. We need it more than a "positive self-image". We need it more than professional recognition. It's time to ditch the busyness for a life better spent now. It's culturally unacceptable. According to the habits of the younger generation, it's unprecedented and definitely "uncool". But it's worth it. God is worth it. We are worth it, when He is in us.
Where are you, men and women of valor?
Where are you, children of the King?
It's time to come into the light.
