As I was getting a ride home from one of my good friends he simply asked me the question "so how's your semester going?" A question college students hear on a daily basis, and so we all have canned answers. But this time, God struck something inside of me after I articulately delivered what I thought he wanted to hear, and how I was excited to see what God was going to do with me this year. I admitted to him that I was soo busy, and I had sooo much going on, but thats how I liked to do things. After a few hours, I sat back and pondered what I had been telling everyone who asked me that same question. I analyzed what was on my plate for the semester, and realized how deadly and dangerous it is to live your life at such a fast pace. I once heard it said that busy is an acronym for "Being Under Satan's Yoke". Regrettably, I have seen this acronym manifest itself in my life, in a very real and alarming way. Quiet times and prayer simply become another objective to cross off your list for the day, serving a brother, having lunches to encourage friends, worship and bible studies, all become as mundane and routine as going to classes. The Lord slapped me across the face with a firm hand of conviction at this point as I wondered when the last time was that I stopped, and simply sat in His presence. I had been moving so fast that everytime I went to the Lord there was no fruits to show for it because I hadn't stopped long enough to plant any seeds. Let's memorize some scripture and talk about John Piper to a friend and call the day a success because I focused on God. We might fool our brothers and sisters in Christ, and most likely ourselves for awhile, but in the meantime the Lord's heart is breaking. We trade in intimacy and a relationship for a schedule of activities and whole lot of labor. We reduce our God of the universe to 10 minutes a day and a chapter of scripture. What a tragedy! My life looks less like a radical warrior who has fallen deeply in love with Christ, and more like your typical over-involved and highly stressed college student.
We tend to wear our business as a title, using that as an excuse as to why we blew someone off, why we didn't call our parents, or why we never even spoke a word to our Savior today. I think we are afraid of what we might find if we slow down and sit uncomfortably in the Lord's presence. Perhaps we will begin to see how meaningless the fruits of our labor really are as we navigate our daily lives. Perhaps we will be shown the depths of our ugly hearts in comparison to a Holy God, causing us to fall on our knees proclaiming "woe is me, I am undone!". Maybe, that interaction will undeniably change our lives forever, and that is something we are very, very afraid of. Let us no longer hide behind the mask of business and allow God to guide our steps instead of a self-centered, calculated schedule that strips us of our dependence on our trustworthy Guide. My prayer is that we would slow down long enough to enjoy the presence our our Maker.
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