Waynesboro Church Of Christ

Welcomes You!

A pasted message from Matthew!

Past Message From Matthew

Posted Date: May 21, 2008

A local minister asked me this weekend if I attended the preacher’s luncheon at Twenty-First Century. This is a monthly meeting of local ministers to be encouraged, informed, and strengthened. I answered “no” to the question, but informed the minister that I attended the preacher’s luncheon at Heritage Christian University when I first started laboring with the congregation in Waynesboro. I then informed the minister that I no longer attended the event because I was too busy. Then I clarified the excuse of never attending from “too busy” to “not making time for this gathering.” I could be at the luncheon if I desired to be, but it was not a priority.

It seems that a lot of people confuse being “too busy” with “not making it a priority.” There is a huge difference from being too busy to not making the time for something. It seems that people in the church use the excuse of being “too busy” to justify refraining from spiritual activity. It is not that these people are genuinely too busy; it is that these people are not making time for the spiritual aspects in life. The “too busy” excuse is easily rolled off the tongue in cases of spiritual service. The person could be involved, could participate, could dedicate some time to a spiritual project, but these people prefer to use the “too busy” excuse. Before the “too busy” reply is given, one must seriously reflect on if this is truth or an excuse.

The book of James seems to deal with this general excuse in chapter 4:17, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James is aware of the desire to procrastinate the Lord’s work to another time. James responds to this habit by stating that he who knows the right thing to do but puts it off, to this individual, these actions are sinful. The classic phrase of “we make time for that which is most important” is generally true in the case of Christianity. We will make time for Jesus if he is a priority to us.