“No soldiers in active service entangle themselves in the affairs of everyday life, so that they may please the one who enlisted them as soldiers.” (2 Timothy 2:4 NASB)

We are living in a time of unprecedented change. Never in the history of humankind have we experienced as much progress as we have in the last two centuries. We now have electricity, telephones, cars, television, computers, modern medicine, aeroplanes, mobile phones, the Internet, digital media, and the list never ends.

In the 1960s, trend analysts predicted that the problem of the coming decades would not be lack of time, but due to the aggressive advancement of technology, we would actually have so much time left on our hands, that we wouldn’t know what to do with it. That forecast could not have been more wrong!

We are incredibly blessed to be living in these times, for sure. But progress always comes at a price, and we are now in an era where it’s easy to get swallowed up by it all. Demands placed upon us have increased; everything is changing at a remarkable pace.

Thanks to the lightbulb, we don’t even have to wind down when the sun goes down. It is thought that we sleep 2 hours less than previous generations. If we don’t make a conscious decision to keep some of our time and energy in reserve, we will cram our schedules to the point of overload, whilst walking around sleep-deprived.

If we are always too busy and too tired, we will never truly be available for God’s purposes. The Lord needs to be in charge of our time, and if we’re listening, we will hear when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, to draw aside and pray, or to help meet a need in our midst. But that still, small voice can’t be heard if all we ever do is hurry and never stop!

Jesus was always available. Jesus had a very busy, demanding schedule, but he always prioritised beingavailable to do the Lord’s will (and took time out and rested when necessary). Proverbs teaches us that, “Reverence for God adds hours to each day.” (Proverbs 10:27, Living Bible)

God is teaching me to be available, and that being a servant means keeping my schedule flexible, allowing God to interrupt it when God wants to!

Blessings
Tirone Nel
Worship & Web Ministry – DGFC