Are you busy?

Are you busy?

As a pastor or ministry leader this may seem like a ridiculous question…

Of course you are busy, but are you too busy?

Too busy for the needs of others that God keeps bringing your way.

God sees you and all that you are doing, but He may have even more for you.

Hurting people, lonely people, confused people, broken marriages, or even people desperate to begin a relationship with their Savior, don’t always fit into your calendar. These sacred opportunities often can’t wait. They are time sensitive. They need to be met by a ready pastor or leader. If you are too busy, too hurried, or maxed out you may miss the moment.

The best advice I have ever heard to prepare for the unexpected is this…

“you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life” –Dallas Willard

Eliminating hurry is not easy, but it will make the biggest impact on your spiritual health and ability to lead others to spiritually healthy choices.

Some of the heavy lifting of ruthlessly eliminating hurry will be:

1. Starting the day slower and submit your daily activities to God’s plan.

2. Evaluate your responsibilities and delegate as appropriate.

3. Place time buffers between appointments to allow for a conversation to naturally go

beyond what was planned.

4. Block time in your week to think and pray about key decisions that you need to make.

5. Place a high priority on a day of Sabbath.

As a final thought, let’s look at the first disciples Jesus called…

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16-18

Simon and Andrew were obviously busy doing their job as fisherman - but not too busy. When Jesus called they were ready, they immediately left their nest and followed. Taking the steps above to eliminate hurry will prepare you to be ready.

Ready when Jesus calls.