Are You Addicted To Busyness?

As we continue our efforts to keep the Sabbath, let’s read this quote from Stephen Covey (businessman, educator, author), “People expect us to be busy, overworked. It’s become a status symbol in our society—if we are busy, we’re important; if we’re not busy, we’re almost embarrassed to admit it.” Would you agree? Covey penned these words more than 25 years ago, do you think we have gotten better or worse? 

The truth is busyness is more than habit, for many it’s an addiction our culture encourages. There is no negative social stigma attached to the addiction of busyness, in fact, busy addicts own it proudly. Being stretched to the breaking point is a status symbol. Business had reached new levels of harm with the rise of smartphones and the worst part is all this busyness takes its toll on us. We are always connected, always on, being fed an uneasy stream of bad news, atrocities, and catastrophes leaving us grieved or outraged. Coupled with our work schedules; our twenty-four hour, seven days a week busyness consumes every quiet moment or halt in activity. 

Earlier this month, we learned “Sabbath” means rest and keeping the Sabbath should allow us to set aside one day out of our week to rest, refuel, and reconnect with God. But, as we all know – it is a choice! The writer of Hebrews 4:6-9 tells us, “So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.’ Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God.”

Did you catch that? Right there in the New Testament the writer of Hebrews declares a Sabbath rest is “still waiting for the people of God.” That’s us! There is a rest we should enter and it has an open invitation but we have to choose to believe, obey, and enter that rest. Do you know what keeps us from entering God’s rest? Our disobedience and unbelief, in other words, we chose to trust ourselves rather than God. It’s the same thing that kept the Israelites from entering into rest in the Promised Land. 

What is keeping you from the Sabbath rest? This week, ask God to help you overcome busyness, doubt, disobedience, or unbelief, so you can enter His rest and enjoy His blessings.