Busyness is not a virtue
Busyness is not a virtue. It’s not a virtue, and, yet, I find myself wearing it like a badge of honor. As I write, we’re in the middle of spring, and so our family finds itself in the whirlwind of end of school festivities, awards celebrations, and final performances. Add in our social obligations church, friends, and the list goes on. Then, of course, you try to plan something with friends, and when we do, I find myself speaking as if busyness is the defining characteristic of my life.
Busyness is not a virtue, but I want to let you know that I, too, am busy. I say it because I think it communicates my importance: I’m the type of person who is needed. I’m the kind of parent who is involved deeply with my kids. Busyness lets me justify myself. It helps me to feel valued.
As a Christian, I face the added temptation of baptizing my busyness. I spiritualize my franticness as work for God. Now, I can call it faithfulness. Like Elwood and Jake, I can feel justified in my actions because, “We’re on a mission from God.”
As Jesus encounters people during his ministry on earth, he will have none of this. He challenges us to put aside busyness for the sake of being with him. One particular encounter illustrates this well:
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
Here Jesus enters a village and meets two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha is doing the hard work of hosting Jesus and his friends. She is busy with serving the Lord, and all the while her sister just sits and listens to Jesus teach. Martha has enough, and she tries to get Jesus to intervene, but he gently rebukes her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Jesus tells us that one thing is necessary, and that one thing is being with him. Following Jesus is not about busying ourselves with what we can do for him; it’s about being in his presence and hearing his voice.
The life of faith is about enjoying God. For all he accomplished, King David understood that one thing is necessary. Consider his prayer in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” His one request was to enjoy life in God’s presence. Being with God is more important than doing for God.
Reflecting on this more theologically, I see in the temptation to busyness two fatally flawed ways of thinking. First, my busyness, especially as it pertains to the work of ministry, points to my lack of faith in God’s sovereign and providential care. In my busyness, I start to act like God’s work hangs in the balance waiting for me to intervene. Second, busyness quickly becomes an attempt to justify myself—to myself, to those around me, and even to God. I fall into the temptation of thinking my worth is in what I do. With such thinking,I am surely, though inadvertently, rejecting the finished work of Christ. Such attempts at self-justification reveal that I don’t believe that either his suffering for us or his obedience for us was enough.
Busyness is not a virtue, and in fact, it often proves to be a vice. I need to stop serving with Martha and start sitting with Mary.
