God and Time-Management

Below is a blog article taken from the Stand to Reason blog about time management. Read it now.

Time Management Isn't the Answer

Somehow, I got out of the habit of regularly (and often) praying and reading the Bible. It didn't take long for that time to be sucked away by less worthy things like laundry, cleaning, blogging, and Seinfeld reruns (some pursuits more necessary than others, clearly--but all less worthy than time with God, and certainly less beneficial).


Realizing my situation wasn't a good one, and starting to notice some more blatant ill-effects, I began asking for prayer for better time management as I tried again and again to stick to a better schedule that could fit time with God in with everything else and keep me moving in the right direction. Convinced bad time management was my problem, I tried to focus my energy on the struggle to "get more things done."


Then I read this--a monthly newsletter from Desiring God about the real reason why Martha was busy with distractions while Mary "chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her":


Why wasn’t Mary distracted? Because Mary was enthralled with Jesus. She was captivated. What she heard as Jesus taught were words of “spirit and life” (John 6:63). She was drinking “living water” (John 4:10), and eating the “bread of life” (John 6:48). Whether or not Mary was aware of Martha’s busyness, she simply couldn’t tear herself away from Jesus. And Jesus commended her on having chosen the good portion.


Being enthralled, engrossed, captivated by someone or something has a powerful clarifying effect on our priorities. We make time for what we are passionate about and we neglect what is less important. We can be tempted to think that the right time-management technique is the answer to a well balanced life and getting the important things done. But it’s not true. Techniques may increase our efficiency, but they can’t determine our priorities. The heart does that.


Ouch.


I know this is true. My situation is a reflection of my heart, not my time. The circular part of it is that the more time I spend with God, the more time I want to spend with Him--even at the expense of other pressing matters. The less time I spend with Him, it's strange how quickly I forget what I'm missing, and how much I inexplicably resist being with Him. In other words, the right priority perpetuates itself and so do the wrong ones.


What I need now is God's mercy and power along with some self-enforced, absolute, acted-upon priorities, knowing, as Martha knew, that the hardest part comes at the beginning when we first have to tear ourselves away from our habitual tasks. Once we make it to our rightful place at Jesus' feet, nothing can tempt us away.