Worried About Many Things?

Every day in my life is hectic. I have so much going on that I cannot even keep my thoughts organized. This is why I live by my planner. I have to write down all the things that I have to take care of each week in order to get them all done. Being a college student, an active member of my church, involved in 2 professional organizations, and president of a student organization, a lot of time is taken up. That is not even including social activities with friends and family. 

Sometimes even when I do get a break, I can't even relax because I am so focused on the other things I should be doing. 

In a crazy world, we need to learn how to let loose, how to relax, how to breath. 

And don't even get me started on studying God's word. I already have to study for tests at school. Who has time for that? 

I read a quote once that says "If you do not have time to pray and read scriptures, you are far busier than God ever intended for you to be." I try to remember this whenever I feel so overwhelmed, but obviously it is hard to cut back when we are already committed to so much. 

What gives me peace is knowing that Jesus understands. He doesn't want us to be so overwhelmed with all of these worldly things. He wants us to only look to Him. He wants us to sit by His side with peace.

A great example of a woman in the bible that seems to have too many things going on is Martha. 

Martha had Jesus over for a dinner. She was shuffling around getting everything ready as Mary was sitting by Jesus side. Martha got mad at Mary for not helping, but Jesus response to her surprises me. He said "Martha Martha, you are worried about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41 & 42)

Wow. He did not tell Mary to get up and help her sister because Mary was already doing what she needed to be doing. She stopped what she was doing to sit with her Lord. There's a huge lesson for us to learn here. We should set aside our worldly concerns to sit with our Lord as well. 

In Martha's defense, she thought she was doing the right thing. She saw herself as working for the Lord. She was making these preparations for Him and her heart was in the right place. She just got a little too distracted. 

In a sermon I heard just a few weeks ago, I was taught that often times we run from God or we run for God while we should be running to God. I was surprised to hear that God did not want us to run for Him. What the speaker meant by this is that we feel like working constantly at church functions, being a Sunday school teacher, or helping the needy will prove to God that we are worthy to be called His children. In the back of our minds we have a nagging sense that we are never doing enough for Him, but in reality that is not exactly what He wants from us. Yes we will be judged by our works, and we should work for the Lord, but our focus needs to be on the right things as well. If we are running for God, we will become exhausted. 

Therefore, what God wants from us is to run to Him. We need to be like Mary and sit by Jesus' side. We need to simply run to Him and let him give us strength when challenges come our way. God desires a relationships with His people. Say yes to relationship. Move from good to grace and live with your new identity in Him. 

Instead of living by my planner, I need to learn to the live by the Holy Word of God. I need to be able to set my focus on things above and to stop worrying so much about college, my career, my friends, etc. I can continue to make these things a priority in my life as long as my relationship with My Lord is number one.