We deeply hope these heartfelt devotionals bring you God’s moment-by-moment grace. Will you help us keep them available? Your timely donation will be such an encouragement to us as we move into 2024!
November 03, 2020
by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Ecclesiastes 11:8–9
APPOINTMENTS, ACTIVITIES, ASSIGNMENTS . . . demands, decisions, deadlines . . . schedules, services, seminars . . . plans, people, programs . . . STOP!
APPOINTMENTS, ACTIVITIES, ASSIGNMENTS . . . demands, decisions, deadlines .
. . schedules, services, seminars . . . plans, people, programs . . . STOP!
Sit down and think. Think about your pace. How in the world did you get
trapped in the busyness cycle? What is it down inside your boiler room that
keeps pouring the coal to your fire? Consider the past three or four
months. Has anything significant been accomplished? Probably not, if you're
honest.
Here's how one of the most effective individuals on the planet summed up
this problem:
When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But
let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to
come is meaningless.
Young people, it's wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do
everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give
an account to God for everything you do.
ECCLESIASTES 11:8–9
Busyness drains relationships—especially during the holidays. It
substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It fills a calendar but
fractures a family. Many a church brags about its active program—"Something
every night of the week . . . for everybody." With good intentions, the
local assembly can create the very atmosphere it was designed to curb. The
One who instructed us to "be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 43:10)
must be grieved when He witnesses our frantic, compulsive, agitated
motions. He must watch us speeding here and there with a heavy sigh.
You'd be wise today to consider carefully the sage advice of Solomon: take
stock of your life, your activities, and your priorities. Make certain you
are doing what God has called you to do. Leave room in your planning for
His "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12, KJV). Pause and ask Him how He
wants you to spend the holiday season soon to be upon you. And remember:
without Him, everything else is, well, meaningless. Take your choice, then
choose neither. This season . . . this year . . . take time.