Guilt, Be Gone!

I do a LOT of work for, about, with my church and sometimes I feel guilty about doing so much. The reason this has caused me some grief is that my church has a LOT of activities. As part of the leadership of the church I'm in a position to worry about "doing too much". Now, activities that have no "spiritual goal" behind them are no brainers; I Chuck 'em! But if I can point to an exact outcome that increases God's Kingdom I can’t see how I can give those up!

When I say I’m busy, I do mean BUSY! Besides the fact that I homeschool, blog, write & record music, (www.deneerichardson.com), have regular household duties, and so much more, I have a very intense church schedule.

For instance, starting with the 1st day of the week:
Sunday: morning worship service, choir practice, evening worship service
Tuesday: Bible study/worship service
Wednesday: Teach personal Bible studies, Orchestra
Thursday: ConnectPOINT @ the church
Saturday: Family prayer

PLUS, there are major events we (me & my fam) are heavily involved in:
Spring: Touch the Future, a ministers conference
Summer: two weeks of children's camps, Campmeeting, my girls' conference, Hadassah, Bible Quiz state & National finals, VBS, & more!
Fall: General Conference, Friend Day
Winter: THE HOLIDAYS!!! (We take advantage of this time of year to do a lot of personal evangelism.)

There are times of the year when I am fully, utterly, & completely exhausted and I worry about myself, my family, & my church. But here’s the thing; from my earliest days I had a hunger to not only hold the label of “Christian”, but to be a servant of God’s. As a child I would cry & tell God, “If you can use anything, you can use me.” As a teen I would sincerely tell God, “You can use me till you use me up.” My priorities have ALWAYS been to “seek first the kingdom of God & his righteousness.” Its what I watched my parents do, its what I saw the people I admired do, and its what I determined I was going to do! I’m not spinning my wheels on “cool stuff to do”! I am very deliberately determining what I want to accomplish and I am engaging myself in activities to reach those goals!

Do I get tired & stressed out? Of course I do! Did I feel guilty wondering if I’m ruining my health, my kids fun, my house’s cleanliness? Yes, I do…

…or rather “did” until I read this passage:
Mark 6:30; “…for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”

I have been THIS busy! I completely understand this! And my guilt was washed away when I put it all together:
1. I am a Christian.
2. I seek to walk in Christ’s footsteps.
3. It is Christ-like to be “too busy” about God’s kingdom.

Jesus and his disciples weren’t “too busy” spending their time & energy playing video games, or watching TV, or even working their careers. (You’ll remember that Jesus & his disciples were carpenters, fishermen, accountants, etc.) If you’ll read the entire passage you’ll find them exerting themselves in two-by-two evangelism, teaching, travelling, etc. You’ll find them disconcerted by the news of John the Baptist’s beheading. THEN after they get back to Jesus and he decides they all need to take a well-deserved vacation… Wouldn’t you know it, but the crowds show up by the thousands and instead of a vacay they are back at work again! Jesus, just as tired as the rest of the disciples, couldn’t bring himself to relax just yet because he had an understanding of what it would take to accomplish his goal, and at this exhausting period of their lives Jesus performed the miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish.

…THEN he took a break and got that much-needed rejuvenation! (You’ll have to read my other blogs to know how important I believe a vacation is.)

So, if my Master-Mentor, my Savior, my Jesus exhausted himself to the point of not being able to find time to do the basics of life, like, EAT; well, that’s exactly what I intend to do! Sure its tough to juggle it all; putting enough attention on my kids so I don’t win the whole world and lose my own children, or finding the time to clean my house. It can be hard to give some focus to my own health, education, and well-being. I will certainly do all these basic things, but I will not stop placing a high priority on the growth of God’s kingdom, even to the point of exhaustion! The fact that I worry about everyone’s health & well-being keeps me constantly evaluating the cause and effects of what I’m involved in and where it fits in the priorities of life. In the times of dealing with an overly-full schedule it seems like I’ll never get through that stressful period; when, in fact, life is but a vapor! This life goes by MUCH too quickly. And as I evaluate what’s on my schedule I will chuck those things that Jesus deemed less important. (Luke 9:60, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Matt 6:25, “Take no thought for food, drink, clothes…” Matt 19:29, “Forsake houses & family…” All of these in context with Matt 6:33, “seek ye first the kingdom of God… & all these things will be added to you.”) As for me and my house, with this new insight, I will recommit to stand on a decision I made a long time ago; I am a Christian and I will seek to do no less than Christ did.

Guilt, be gone!!!

Hear the audio blog at: http://deneerichardson.com/#/audio-blog/4532364166