Do you ever feel busy? Do you ever feel that you have more to do than you can manage to get done? Do you ever feel that your day, your week, your month, or your year is too short?
Do you ever have the feeling that other people are setting your agenda, constantly asking you for favors, for your time, for your help? Do you have difficulties in saying “No”, even when you know you should? Perhaps with the snow storm earlier this week and everyone asked to stay home, time could be found to think about how we manage our time.
Many of us have had days whereby we have far more work to do than we could ever achieve in the course of the day. Either we disappoint people, or we run the risk of letting others live our lives. We do have our own goals and priorities in life. We should let them guide our choices and our management of time and resources.
Jesus was faced with pretty much the same kind of dilemma as we do at times. In Mark’s Gospel, Christ goes to the house of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in–law was in bed with a fever and Jesus is asked to come and heal her. After He does, many come to him who were sick with various diseases to be healed. It does not appear Jesus expected the crowd but while He may have had other plans, He takes the time to heal them never the less.
So the question is what do we do? Yes, we must offer them whatever help we are able to give in the short term, regardless of whether that is material help, or counseling, or anything else for that matter. We should realize however, that we cannot just offer people just good and pleasant things.
The calling, to which we have been called as Christians individually and as a church, goes further than that, much further. Charity is good and necessary. Those in the margin of society, the paperless immigrants, the long-term unemployed, the sick, the mentally ill, the victims of school bullying, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and physical abuse – they need charity because the systems that society has in place, if there are any, are not sufficient to take care of their needs in a sufficient and holistic way. As Christians, we should stand by those people, support them and lift them up.
Jesus wants much more. What He intended to create when he gave the Great Commission was a community of disciples that would expand and empower all who become a part of it and make the world a place of justice and peace.
As Christians, we so often feel that we are expected to be nice to others, to please others unselfishly, and to give others what they ask of us. After all, Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to give what others ask from us. That may not be easy today, but we are called to live an unselfish life.
God has a purpose for our lives. Our lives will not be fulfilling, unless we constantly move towards that purpose, that goal. We may not know what the goal is. We may ask God in prayer to show us that purpose and still not get a clear answer.
It would be so great if God would show us his master plan and purpose for our lives. The Psalmist says, (Psalm 119) “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” When it comes to looking for God’s purposes and priorities for our lives, and when it comes to discovering what step to take next, we can go a long way by opening the Bible and let God speak to us through it.
When we pray the words that Jesus taught us: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done,” that is when we align our priority in life with his priority.
