there is a big temptation for ministers to determine their value based on how busy our schedule is. if you hang out with ministers enough you’ll hear it. someone will say something about a t.v. show, movie, or book of fiction (these are just examples) and soon one of the ministers will respond with “i’m too busy to read fiction” (or watch t.v. movies, or go fishing, etc., etc.). i was once in a worship service when a minister claimed from the pulpit that he would compare his appointment book with anyone and prove that he was busier. this is a good thing?
the weekly small group study that pam and i belong to is going through “the life you’ve always wanted” by john ortberg. while i think the title and the cover of the book make it sound like an oprah book club item i still think that what ortberg says is fantastic. this past week’s chapter was on servanthood. in this chapter ortberg tells of a time when he was talking to a friend of his about how busy he was. his friend’s response was great, “why would you choose that life?” ortberg continued to try and explain how he didn’t have any choice in the matter but his friend kept asking why he would choose to be that busy.
it was a great point. most times, not always but most times, we choose to be busy for our own reasons. this is especially true for ministers. i know some ministers who i believe choose to be very busy because they feel more important when they are. yes, ministry can eat up a lot of time. yet i have an advantage that so many other people don’t have … i usually get to choose my schedule. if i work late because i have to be at something or i need to go on a chaplain ride-a-long or anything like that, no one begrudges me taking some time off during the day. that’s pretty much true for for every minister i know. it’s not true for most of the non-ministers i know.
it makes no sense for us to say that JESUS should be the ONE WHO determines our priorities and then choose to be so busy that we can’t be interrupted. JESUS didn’t choose to be that busy and therefore as followers of HIM we shouldn’t choose to be that way either.
here’s to choosing not to be busy.