Luke 10:40 (ESV): “But Martha was distracted with much serving…”

This week in the devotional book that our youth group uses there was a devotional about being too busy. The author (Nathan Barker) said:
“Being [distracted] doesn’t mean you’re doing bad things or doing things for the wrong reason. It just simply means that you are not doing what you should be doing, because you’re distracted with something else…Once you’ve become [distracted], it is only a matter of time before you become burnt out. Burn out doesn’t happen because we’re busy, it happens because we are busy without the power of God on us. We have no power because we have no prayer. We have no boldness because we have no Bible. Remember, no amount of work for the Lord can replace your walk with the Lord.”

Those few statements spoke a world to me. I don’t get exhausted with ministry because I am busy, it is because I am doing the things that are not in God’s will. Wow.  To think that if we simply stopped doing things that were not in God’s will, our lives would be so much easier.  If only it were easy to do that.

When we become too focused on “doing Christianity” rather than “living Christianity”, that’s when the downfall comes.

For the most part, this pressure comes from within the church itself.  In the last 20-30 years, the dominant “standard” in the church at large has been “how involved are my members, how happy are my members, how many members do I have, how many programs do I have”.  What’s missing there?  The walk.  What those involved, happy, numerous, program-happy members are outside of the doors of your church.  As children’s ministry leaders, we have been pushed to add programs, add attendees, and make people happy.  But I know personally I would rather deal with a ministry where I can have kids walking with God, than a ministry where I have enough programs that I could keep the entire population of the United States busy just in my ministries.

So take time today to look at what you do.  Make sure you are doing it for God and not to God.  Cut out the excess and the wrong things, and make time for focusing on God.  I think you’ll be amazed at the attitude change you’ll have.

BONUS! This is totally random, think of it as a bonus post.  People come to church for church, not for the production.  Don’t make church a production.  Make it real.