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Wasting Time With God
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Wasting Time With God
“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 ESV)
As I stood there during the singing of the hymn
I asked myself,
"What message have I to bring to these good people of Mayberry?"
And I was reminded of an incident.
A young man came to me recently
and said he, "Dr. Breen, what is the meaning of it all?"
And I said to him, "Young man, I'm glad you asked."
My friends, I wish more of us
found the time to ask that question.
Whither, whither are we headed and why.
Why the senseless rush?
This mad pursuit?
This frantic competition.
This pace that kills.
Why do we drive ourselves as we do?
In our furious race these days, to conquer outer space,
are we not perhaps forgetting inner space?
Shall we find the true meaning of life
by fleeing from it?
Consider...
consider how we live our lives today.
Everything is run, run, run.
We bolt our breakfast.
We scan the headlines.
We race to the office.
The full schedule and the split second.
These are our gauges of success.
We drive ourselves from morn to night.
We have forgotten the meaning of the word "relaxation."
What has become of the old-fashioned ways?
The simple pleasures of the past?
Who can forget, for example
the old-fashioned band concert at twilight
on the village green.
The joy, the serenity of just sitting and listening.
This is lost to us.
And this we should strive to recapture.
A simple, innocent pleasure.
And so, I say to you, dear friends:
relax, slow down, take it easy.
( shouts ): What's your hurry?
What, indeed, friends, is your hurry?
Do you know where that soliloquy comes from? That’s right. It’s from the Andy Griffith episode “The Sermon For Today.” I bet most of you can picture the scene now. Opie is catching the buzzing bug in his clenched fist. Gomer and Barney are struggling to stay awake. And then, after its all over, Barney shakes the preacher’s hand, telling him “that’s one subject you just can’t talk enough about—sin!” To which Andy replies, “It wasn’t about sin.”
But…wasn’t it though? I’m nervous about beginning the sermon with a word like “sin” because we tend to have a reductionist approach to cosmic Bible terms like sin and salvation. Salvation in the Gospel of Luke, for example, is about far more than me getting to go to heaven when I die. It’s about the poor getting paid, the wronged getting justice, the perpetrator repenting and getting forgiveness, the Jew and Samaritan sitting down with the Gentile in the kingdom of heaven. Its bigger than we think.
So it is with “sin.” We tend to think that sin is “breaking a rule” or contradicting a verse, and requires a short prayer or coming down the aisle on Sunday. It’s a word that we suppose is designed to make us feel guilty and then correct it in 5 minutes. But sin in Scripture can also refer to a larger reality in which we swim all the time. Things don’t work like they are supposed to. Society doesn’t look out for people like it should. I’m not everything my wife needs me to be, my kids deserve in a father, or my boss ought to get from an employee. “Sin” can refer to the brokenness in the world, the “less than” that we all sense and see—especially when we look in the mirror. And all the distractions that keep us from what God truly has in store for us may not be violating some rule somewhere, but its certainly not what we expect to be true when God makes all things right.
With that larger sense in front of us, I want to talk about “the sin of distraction.” The way in which we as individuals, as a society, as a culture, habitually get in the way of God.
WE WERE NOT BUILT FOR SPEED
Many of you may know how this line ends: “I feel the need…” (the need for speed). And we do, don’t we? We got to get the kids bathed, fed, brushed, clothed, and out the door. We have to do the same to ourselves, get gas, fight traffic, and get to work. Get that report done before lunch, pick up that dry-cleaning and call AT&T about the mistake on our bill DURING lunch, and then fight with our spouse about who is going to pick up the kids this time. Then there’s ballgames and dance and ballgames and theater and ballgames and ballet and ballgames and quizbowl and ballgames and piano lessons…and did I mention ballgames? What about homework, that project you are doing on the side in hopes that the boss might promote you next year, that yard isn’t going to mow itself, and you haven’t even checked your emails yet. After stuffing food down your mouth, and the kids are all in bed, you finally have time for yourself.
And she wants to talk! Suddenly, you feel exhausted. So it’s lights out.
The truth is that we weren’t built for speed. Rich Villodas puts it this way:
“Our souls were not created for the kind of speed to which we have grown accustomed…Our lives can easily take us to the brink of burnout. The pace we live at is often destructive. The lack of margin is debilitating. We are worn out…Thus, we are a people who are out of rhythm, a people with too much to do and not enough time to do it…In all of this, the problem before us is not just the frenetic pace we live at but what gets pushed out from our lives as a result; that is, life with God.”
“I’m so sorry,” Writes James Comer, “but I don’t know how to soften the blow: There is simply no way to follow Jesus without unhurrying your life.” Do you know why? Because “hurry” is the enemy of your spiritual life. It doesn’t just stand in your way, says Comer; it actively fights against you. Pursuing the spiritual life involves the “ruthless elimination of hurry.”
It's not just in the warp and woof of the daily grind; its in our religion too. We think that God calls us to do more thing: reach more, teach more, one more mission trip, one more door to knock, one more study to do. We tell ourselves that God is calling us to run fast to greater territories; but first, Comer points out, he calls us to lie down in green pastures.
DISTRACTION
We don’t know how to do that. We are just so…distracted.
The photographer Eric Pickersgill took some candid shots of people, and only later realized that so many of them looked, well, distracted. The family in the booth next to him never even talked to each other. The Dad had his nose in his food, the kids on their phones. The mother staring out the window. Together and yet…so disconnected. It’s then that he had an idea. What if I photoshopped out all smartphones and digital devices from these portraits to show our addiction? To put it another way, to highlight the sin of distraction.
Take your average American, says Jonathan Storment. We look at a screen of some kind over 7 hours a day. Not only do our screens become distractions, but while staring at them, our kids become distractions to us! We are addicted to our distractions. And they like it that way. Did you know that if you have been on facebook for more than 6 months, those algorithms know you, your likes, and your habits, better than your spouse of 20 years? And not only do they know what you want, they intentionally put things in front of your eyes they know you hate…because riling you up keeps your attention.
And what does your social media scroll bring to your awareness? Everything from political strife half-way around the world to professional sports drafts sure to disappoint, from supreme court decisions in DC to the aftermath of a storm in Honduras. It makes us totally aware of things outside our control, and we become numb and immune to those everyday things within our control. Like the emotional pain our spouse has been trying to communicate to us, or even the names of the people who live next door. Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves To Death, put it this way: “We know everything about that which we can do nothing about and almost nothing about that which we can do everything about.”
Numb. Oblivious. And Distracted. And in this we are “falling short of the glory of God.”
MARY AND MARTHA
You remember the scene. Mary and Martha are about to have a house guest—the Son of God, no less! So Martha is getting everything ready. The doorbell rings, and Martha says what I know we in our house have said many times when we knew someone was coming over, and we were shoving all the toys and clothes into some side room and bolting it shut: “We aren’t ready yet!”
Martha keeps working—there is so much to do! But Mary…Mary sits down at the feet of Jesus and listens to him talk.
Martha was having none of it. “Master, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”
Oh, we’ve sung those words so many times: “There is much to do! There’s work on every hand!” Jesus isn’t opposed to work or serving. On another occasion, Jesus said “my father is always working, and I am working.” Jesus said, “I came not to be served, but to serve.” The problem is not in the serving. The problem is in the timing.
Jesus says, “Martha, Martha.”
As a kid, I knew I was in trouble when mom or dad called my name twice. But listen to Tim Keller on this. Did you ever notice that, often enough, Jesus doesn’t double up words without weeping? “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How I longed to gather your children together.” Or David in the Old Testament? “O Absolom, Absolom!” Jesus loved Martha. He’s not upset with her…he identifies a sad problem with her.
Jesus looks at Martha and says, “You are anxious, you are worried, you are upset about many things.” And what does she do when she is anxious? She finds things to do to fill up her time, her hands, and her mind. Up in verse 40, before Martha asks Jesus to send Mary into the kitchen to help, Luke says “But Martha was distracted with much serving.”
In the Middle Ages, notes Keller, this story was used to get people to become monks and nuns. “Leave the secular life and join the life of contemplation.” But that’s precisely not the point of this lesson—because Martha isn’t distracted with secular work keeping her from serving Jesus…she’s distracted with serving Jesus! That’s what makes this story so interesting. It’s addressed to those of us who constantly put serving Jesus first. Think about that. Luke doesn’t think of this as some neurotic obsessive-compulsive problem in Martha; the Greek here suggests there really is much that needs to be done in entertaining a house guest.
Have you ever seen that 4-quadrant chart that asks you to divide things into urgent and important, urgent but not important, not urgent but important, and neither urgent nor important? We assume that evil is doing the opposite of what God says, then we read the temptations of Jesus and learn that evil can be doing precisely what God says but at the wrong time. We assume that obedience means doing all the right stuff, but then we learn that obedience is doing the one thing we are supposed to do at the right time. Jesus wants Martha to see that when you have the opportunity to be with Jesus, there are many good things, maybe urgent things, maybe important things; but in those moments, verse 42: “one thing is necessary.”
Tim Keller makes another very interesting observation. In John 12, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus host a dinner for Jesus and his followers. During the dinner, Mary breaks open a very expensive bottle of perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet. His followers don’t understand—they can’t believe it! But Jesus says “leave her alone. She is anointing me for my burial.” It seems that in that very moment, Mary is the only person in all the world besides Jesus who knew that Jesus was going to die. Could it be that the reason she knew that was because unlike everybody else around Jesus doing things for Jesus, she was the only one who truly sat at his feet and listened to Jesus?
THREE-MILE AN HOUR GOD
Kosuke Koyama wrote a book with a fabulous title: 3-mile an hour God. He says the average person walks at 3-miles an hour. In the gospels, Jesus walks everywhere. And as he walks, he touches people, he pours out his heart in love as he heals and teaches and serves. This is how real relationship works. This is the opposite of fake friends, and meaningless likes in a socially fabricated world with endless reels that go a hundred miles an hour. This is real friendship and true love that takes place as the speed of your daily walk.
We are so busy running ahead of God, when he really wants us to walk with him. Maybe its time that you and I hurry up and slow down.
FIND A SECRET PLACE
Maybe you know that the Christian tradition has several disciplines to help us waste time with God: disciplines like solitude, silence, stillness, and Sabbath.
Have you ever wanted to just “get away” from it all? Katie and I have gone on an Italian vacation. It was glorious. Some of you hike the Rockies or go fly fishing in Wyoming. Some of you love camping or jumping in the car and finding some out-of-the-way village to go antiquing. But all of these things—good in themselves—miss the point of what I’m really asking. You see, all of these things get you “away” from your 9-5, but they don’t necessarily get you away from yourself. It’s still your vacation, after all. You know when life at home with three small children feels like chaos, so you go to your bedroom for 5 minutes to “recharge”? That’s perfectly normal. But it’s still not what I’m talking about.
If I were to encourage you to “get away” for spiritual growth, I mean something more, something different than finding time to unwind, recharge, enjoy yourself, and vacation. These are actually ways to unplug from others so you can enjoy yourself. What the spiritual habits of solitude, silence, and sabbath are meant to reinforce are ways to plug in to God, so you can enjoy his presence.
Did you ever notice that in the sermon on the Mount, before Jesus gives us advice on what to pray, he offers up a word about where to pray?
When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matt 6:6).
We can’t help but picture our modern houses—each person with their own air-conditioned room, where we spend so much of our lives. But in the first century, most of your life took place outdoors. Homes were primarily for sleeping, feasting, and storing. This word for “room” or “inner room” refers to the closet pantry where you kept your food stuffs. You get the impression you should hide in a closet which is most unnatural; and you should do it without anyone playing hide and seek with you.
The reason is not because it needs to feel uncomfortable; but because it needs to be non-distracting. Have you heard about the parent who sent their child to their bedroom as punishment? “Go to your room, but don’t watch TV. Don’t play X Box. Don’t play playstation. Don’t … on second thought, go to MY room!” The key is to find a non-distracting place.
In the very first chapter of Mark, we read “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). The word here is a “quiet” place, a “lonely” place, or a “deserted” place. A place free from distraction.
This was not unusual for him. Luke says it was his habit. “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane scene? That’s where Jesus was when he was arrested. How did Judas know to find Jesus there? There the text tells us. Because, says Luke and John, this was his “habit” (Luke 22:39, AMP), and he “often” met there with his disciples (John 18:2).
Where is your secret place? It doesn’t have to be a nice study built onto the side of your house. In fact, it appears Jesus had many “secret places” where he would slip away during his day throughout his life. But what is your habit—not of getting away to relax and unwind, but of leaning into God away from the distractions that war for your soul’s attention?
WASTING TIME WITH GOD
Can I encourage you to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life? Can I encourage you to hurry up and slow down? Can I encourage you to practice stillness, so that in the stillness you might deny the god of distraction? Waste time with God…and you’ll find it given back to you in greater measure. For when we spend time with God…our time with others and even with ourselves becomes richer.
This is a sermon preached on March 23, 2025 at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) entitled “Wasting Time With God.” It is the eighth lesson in a sermon series called “Follow Me,” and the fourth lesson in the sub-series called “Be With Jesus.” This lesson is available to watch or listen, and appears on the Life on the West Side podcast (Season 4, Episode 57). Available on all podcast platforms.
Renew Conference
I am excited to be speaking at this year’s Renew National Gathering in Indianapolis, April 28-29. I will be joining David Young and Elvis Isaacs in what is being dubbed a “Theological Thunderdome” as we explore how to restore a radical witness in this culture. I’d love to see you there.
Equip Orlando
Come out to sunny Orlando in July! I’ll be giving 4 lectures on Christian apologetics titled “Why Christianity Makes Sense.” I’d love for you to join us!
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My name is Nathan Guy. I serve as associate professor of philosophy, theology, and ethics and as the director of the David E. Smith Healthcare Ethics and Human Dignity Initiative at Harding University (Searcy, Arkansas). I am also privileged to serve as preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy. I joyfully adjunct courses for the School for Professional Studies at St. Louis University and enthusiastically serve as chairman of the board for the Center for Christian Studies. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of Grace (who is 3) and Henry (who is wee). You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. You can also follow me (@nathanpguy) on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), Threads, Bluesky, and YouTube.