APPENDICES 6–10
When Being Busy for God Is Not the Same as Walking With God
One of the greatest dangers in Kingdom service is confusing activity with spirituality.
A person can be extremely busy with religious work and yet gradually become disconnected from the heart of God.
Meetings can increase.
Programmes can multiply.
Committees can expand.
Travel can intensify.
Sermons can increase.
Online activity can grow.
Yet the servant’s inner life can quietly deteriorate.
This is why Jesus’ interaction with Martha in Luke 10:38–42 deserves serious attention.
Martha was not committing an obviously sinful act.
She was serving.
But Scripture says she was:
“cumbered about much serving.”
That phrase is sobering.
The problem was not simply serving.
It was becoming cumbered by serving.
Something legitimate had become spiritually disordered.
1. ACTIVITY ASKS, “WHAT CAN I DO?” TRUE SERVICE ASKS, “WHAT IS GOD ASKING ME TO DO?”
There is a difference.
Activity can originate from:
pressure,
tradition,
competition,
ambition,
guilt,
people’s expectations,
fear of becoming irrelevant.
True Kingdom service originates in relationship and obedience.
Not everything done for God was necessarily instructed by God.
That statement should make every serious servant pause.
2. ACTIVITY CAN EXIST WITHOUT INTIMACY
Martha was physically close to Jesus.
Yet anxiety about serving distracted her from Jesus.
Mary sat at His feet.
Jesus did not condemn service.
He corrected disordered priority.
This gives us again the governing principle:
COMMUNION BEFORE COMMISSION.
Service should flow from presence.
Otherwise we may eventually know how to perform ministry without knowing how to remain with Christ.
3. ACTIVITY MEASURES MOTION; TRUE SERVICE MEASURES OBEDIENCE
Jonah was moving.
But he was moving away from assignment.
Elijah at Cherith appeared inactive publicly.
But he was precisely where God had instructed him to be.
Therefore:
Movement is not always progress, and stillness is not always stagnation.
The real question is:
Am I obeying God?
4. ACTIVITY CAN BE DRIVEN BY PEOPLE’S PRESSURE
Mark 1 records the disciples telling Jesus:
“All men seek for thee.”
There was demand.
Opportunity.
Popularity.
Need.
Yet Jesus did not allow demand to define direction.
He had been in prayer.
He knew His next assignment.
When you do not receive direction from God’s presence, you can easily receive direction from people’s
5. ACTIVITY CAN BECOME AN ESCAPE FROM THE SECRET PLACE
Sometimes people stay busy because silence is uncomfortable.
Activity protects us from confronting:
spiritual dryness,
unresolved wounds,
marital problems,
character weaknesses,
fear,
insecurity,
unconfessed sin,
difficult questions.
But ministry cannot permanently cover what discipleship needs to address.
You cannot heal the servant merely by increasing the servant’s assignments.