I Can't Be All That..(And don't intend to be)

I don’t know how I ever did it. I know that most people do it and they seem to get through life. I mean, live life without Jesus. How is life without Him anyway?

This past Sunday I met a lady who said that she would like to get together with me sometime. For those of you who know me, I don’t spend a lot of one on one time with women to begin with. I like the gender and all, it’s just safer keeping my distance. Call me ultra conservative if you want, but my marriage has been the better for it. Some of you are women and I don’t hang out with you either. I love you. You love me. We just don’t go out for coffee together.

Anyway, I responded to this lady by telling her that it sounded like a fine idea, but I am very busy in my life right now. She answered back saying, ‘Sometimes you just need to make time for things.’

She is absolutely right. Sometimes you do need to make time for things. I can’t argue that. The trouble is, I have MANY things in my life that I need to make time for, and I told her as much.

So I spent the remainder of my afternoon feeling rather bitter, wondering if I need to add this to the long list of other things that I NEED to make time for. I didn’t spend the whole night in prayer, but I reminded myself that I’m willing to do what God wants me to do, and I thought on the truth of His word. So I resolved that if He wants me to go there, that I’ll go. Issue resolved.

What other way is there to deal with life? I mean, there are so many voices in my life telling me what to do with my time. God is the only one who narrows the vision for me. I just have to take my direction from Him. Yes – He does direct me to listen to my wife and to respect the other governmental and workplace authorities in my life. Yes I remain sensitive to the needs of my children. No I do not have to listen to everyone who thinks that they know what’s best for my life’s course.

How do you do it without Jesus? Don’t you find that there is just so much to balance in life? Do you ever find yourself to be too busy? What do you do when those guilty voices come, telling you that you need to make time for something that you don’t have time for?

This is what Jesus promises and what He really has done for me,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-20

As busy as my life can be, Jesus isn’t the one who packs the extra weight onto my back. Sure, I write a fair bit and I spend what time I can walking with other men in my life, but it’s not laboursome. Life only becomes tiresome when I listen to those who haven’t earned the privilege of speaking into it. The people who love me tend to care enough for my well being, my sanity and my family.

Jesus does give us a yoke and a load to carry, but it is far lighter than the yoke which the world places on our shoulders. Think about it. List all of the things that the world expects of us. Think about the things we’re supposed to buy. Think about everything we’re supposed to do for our children. Think about the ways that we try to keep up with the people in our lives. (The Jones’) You need to find time to workout, watch TV, play with your kids, keep up with current events and popular culture, work, eat, coach your kid’s soccer team, take them to piano lessons, join your own sports team and pack in a social life.

Following Jesus narrows the vision. He is humble and gentle. He doesn't nag at you, making you feel guilty that you couldn't afford that once in a lifetime trip to Disneyworld.

Many of you are parents. So I’ll look at this in light of parenthood. If you aren’t a mom or a dad, you’ll have to find your own parallels. Sorry.

What does the world expect from you as a parent? You need to be concerned with your child’s academics. If they don’t do well in school, it’s likely your fault. They should be athletic too shouldn’t they? Who wants a wimpy kid? So you should have them in sports. Maybe even enrol them in Karate. How about social skills? How well does your child interact with others? Is your kid socially inept? And everyone looks up to those musical kids. Better make sure they learn to play at least one instrument. What about a second language? Or even a third? And then there are girl scouts, boy scouts. What about fun? Are they having enough fun? Do you take them to the park enough? Do they have enough toys, spend enough time with their friends? Do you spend enough one on one time with them as individuals?

Is that enough? You’ll notice that I have listed things that are all truly admirable. I haven’t listed anything inherently sinful that you should get rid of. That’s just one area of your life and you’re likely overloaded already. We haven’t even started talking about your marriage or career.

If you simply ADD Jesus to the mix, it makes matters that much worse doesn’t it? Now you have to add on their Bible club, and teach their Sunday school class. So I can see if you think that Jesus would merely add to the guilt and the chaos. Sure, if you just add Him to the mix, it will get worse. However, it isn’t supposed to work that way.

What we are called to do is to drop the yoke of slavery that the world has placed on our shoulders. Just drop it. After we drop it, we begin to ask a different question. “What does Jesus want for my kids?” Do you know the answer to that question? Do you know what He wants from your
kids? Consider this passage;

In the book of Malachi, God is speaking about husbands and wives and Malachi asks this very simple question about God.

“What does He want?”

Without looking to find the answer, do you know what God wants? It isn’t complex....

“Godly children from your union.” Malachi 2:15


God is much more straight forward than many believe Him to be. Sure it’s great to have a superstar academic/social/athlete. I just want you to know that God isn’t the one who put that burden on you. Sure you can keep the piano lessons if you want. Soccer is great. But if your life is too busy trying to be everything to everyone, it’s ok to drop some of the baggage. As for our children, He’s primarily concerned with us living out and teaching our kids about him.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow night – I think I’ll tell you that God expects everyone of you to fly to Haiti and help with the recovery. Sorry....Pakistan. God says Pakistan.