Combatting Busyness And Remaining Still

Busy For What?

With each new season comes a new set of distractions competing for our attention and drawing us away from quiet time with God. Does God care about how busy we are? Or how stacked your to-do list is today? Where do your priorities lie when it comes to your time?

You probably heard statements like “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” or “if you are not working 24/7, someone else is and they will beat you.” Even well known influencers have advocated this way of living. Whether it’s Kevin O'Leary saying, “work until your bank account looks like a phone number." Or Mark Cuban mentioning, "work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you." And Bill Gates has made the claim, “I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one."

Is this really great advice? Is this biblical advice? 100-hour workweeks, not taking a day off in a decade, intentionally running your body down to the ground, keeping yourself so busy with work that you don't have time for other things. Overworking and keeping oneself extremely busy has been glorified in this world. It has become a false virtue. The constant busyness prevents us from taking healthy breaks. For Christians, an overly busy lifestyle keeps us from remaining still in God’s presence. Whether it’s due to good responsibilities or time wasted on meaningless activities, many people find themselves too busy to spend intimate time with God.

It’s a daily battle. Everything is vying for our time, trying to take our attention away from God. Not just bad things, but good things. The purpose of this article is to see what Scripture teaches on the importance of being still in God’s presence. We should all be asking ourselves: Are our priorities in the right place? How did Jesus navigate packed and productive days? To answer these questions we’ll take a look at Mark 1:35-39 and Luke 10:38-42.

Solitude with God (Mark 1:35-39)

In the opening chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus begins his ministry and is already growing in popularity. Following the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, many sick and demon oppressed people were brought to Jesus (1:29-34). Not just a few, but a large crowd of people surrounded the door, hoping to get a hold of Jesus. It says that all of this began during the evening at sundown. So imagine, Jesus already had a busy day teaching and healing in the synagogue, and even after all that, he spent the evening hours healing the sick. Jesus had what we would consider a “packed yet productive day”. With his busy schedule and the late evening, one would imagine Jesus taking some time off the next morning to sleep in.

But in fact, we see the complete opposite. In Mark 1:35 it says, 

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (ESV)

For Jesus, spending time with the Father was not an option. Jesus prioritized spending time in isolation even on the busiest of days. Prayer was such a priority to Jesus that he went out of his way to make time. Even though Jesus was becoming popular and many people were doing everything they can to spend time with him, he didn’t use that as an excuse to skip out on his private devotion with the Father.

How much do we prioritize seeking God’s face daily? Are we too busy to take some moments to remain still? If Jesus, the Son of God, prioritized time with God, how much more should we? Do we only turn to God when we need something? Do we have a transactional relationship or one of intimacy and delight? Our priorities are seen by the way we use our time. If there's someone you love spending time with, you will go out of your way to ensure that you have time for them. The same thing can be said about us prioritizing time with God. 

Maybe we don’t see the point of being still? We might ask ourselves, “Are a few moments with God going to change anything?” Being still in God’s presence isn’t an option but a dire necessity for followers of Jesus. Resting in God isn’t a luxury or an add-on to Christianity. Do you realize that everyday you are in desperate need of God? That you can’t do anything of substance or significance without God’s daily grace. Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4, ESV). It is impossible to bear fruit without Jesus. We need to be connected to the vine to live a fruitful life that is glorifying and pleasing to God. So the question is, are we abiding in the vine?

We see the results of Jesus spending isolated time with the father. It mentions how Simon and a few others were frankly looking for Jesus. They eventually find Jesus and tell him how everyone is looking for him. Jesus is becoming very popular in Capernaum and even though the disciples thought it would make sense for Jesus to go back to the crowd of people who want him, Jesus insists otherwise. Instead of doing what would have made sense to the disciples and those around him, Jesus insists that he is to go on to the next town to continue preaching because that is his God given purpose. Having isolated time to be still with the father, redirects our focus to the things of God.

So how do we combat busyness to spend more time with God? Jesus shows us that having the right priorities, will dictate how we use our time. If spending time with God is a priority of ours, because we realize our constant need for God, it will help us fight the battle of busyness.

Have You Chosen The Good Portion? (Luke 10:38-42)

In the gospel of Luke, we see another passage that talks about the importance of priorities. In this passage, Jesus and his followers were welcomed into Martha’s house. Imagine one day a good friend and a group of others suddenly come to your house. The frantic worry, last minute cleaning, figuring out what food to feed them. 

As any good host, Martha was going above and beyond to make her guests feel welcomed. Although we don't know the full details of everything that Martha did that day, Luke mentions that “Martha was distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40, ESV). Martha was overburdened and dragged away from spending time with her guests because of her desire to go the extra mile. While Martha was worrying about serving her guests, her sister Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teaching. From Martha's perspective, Mary didn’t seem to care about helping her with the responsibility of serving their guests. The natural tension between Martha and Mary eventually reaches a boiling point as Martha confronts Jesus.

Martha expresses her frustration towards Mary by asking Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me” (Luke 10:40, ESV). By saying this, not only is Martha communicating her frustration towards her sister, but she is also questioning why Jesus isn’t doing anything about it. Martha goes further by insisting that Jesus should tell Mary to help her. Now imagine that! Martha’s annoyance resulted in her calling out both her sister and Jesus.

So how does Jesus respond? Jesus responds by saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42, ESV). The doubling of Martha’s name shows Jesus’ heartfelt compassion towards her. Even though Jesus is correcting Martha, he’s not doing it in a condescending manner. Jesus doesn’t condemn Martha for being hospitable. Jesus mentions that Martha’s problem is that her priorities are in the wrong place. Instead of worrying about the countless things on her mind, it would have been better for her to prioritize taking time to sit and listen. While Martha has been trying to go above and beyond in showing hospitality, Mary was soaking in the teachings of Jesus. At the end of the day, the guests will leave and the hospitality will come to an end, but the teachings that Mary learned at the feet of Jesus, would remain with her for a lifetime.

The question isn’t whether showing hospitality and doing work is good or bad. As followers of Christ, we have been commanded to do both of these things. The problem lies in our priorities. Martha’s priority was to busy herself by doing everything she humanly can to extend hospitality to her guests. Mary’s priority was to sit at Jesus’ feet, a position that culturally was strictly designated for men. Two different responses to the same situation. Mary and Martha’s actions showed where their priorities were.

There is a lot for us to take away from these couple of verses. It is very possible for us to busy ourselves with good things that we miss out on the greatest thing of all. Showing hospitality, doing work, accomplishing goals, going to school, cleaning the house, going on errands, exercising, being with family, and even ministry are all good things. But the moment these become our first priority in life, we lose out on the beauty of intimacy with Jesus. It’s easy to serve Jesus without being with Jesus. We can stand on stage, serve in leadership positions, volunteer in different ministries, make ourselves available to anyone in need, all while placing our intimacy with Jesus on the side. We can busy ourselves as much as we want, but that doesn’t substitute spending time at Jesus’ feet.

Realigning Our Priorities

Corrie Ten Boom wisely warned, “if the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.” Busyness takes our gaze off Jesus. It’s not difficult to make ourselves busy but it’s challenging to remain still. It’s a daily battle as we fight against the countless matters competing for our time. What we need more than anything is to prioritize spending time at the feet of Jesus. Uninterrupted, fully devoted, daily time with our Father. 

What are the distractions that typically rob you of intimacy with God? For some, maybe it’s not a time problem but an issue of priorities. How much do you prioritize spending time with God? Do we view spending time in prayer as importantly as Jesus did? Do we treat busyness with ministry as an excuse to push our devotion time aside? We can do many things in this world, but ultimately one thing is necessary. Pray asking God for help as we fight busyness and choose the good portion that will never be taken away from us.