The real reason why we stay busy
Jesus promises to give us rest. In fact, He even repeated this promise twice in Matthew 11. Is it because our Saviour knows how tempting it is for us to keep ourselves busy and “productive”? Sadly, being busy doesn’t guarantee that we accumulate meaningful value. The truth is that outside of God, there is no real rest for our souls, peace or security. God’s Word shows us that a meaningful life is one which is quiet, restful, peaceful and joyful — qualities one can find in heaven!
(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 我们终日忙碌的真正原因 | 繁體中文 > 我們終日忙碌的真正原因)
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
1 Thessalonians 4:11 NLT Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
Busy-ness is not from God
God has never called us to be busy. In fact, God warns us to not to wear ourselves out trying to gain security, earthly riches or human knowledge. Our lives are not made more meaningful with such things.
Proverbs 23:4 NIV Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.
The enlightened writer in Ecclesiastes confessed, “The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.” He observed that “No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself.”
Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 NLT So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 NLT Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself…
He concluded that “there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work” and that all such blessings are from God. Our Creator will dispense the wisdom and wealth that we need for His purposes. All else is frivolous and meaningless, like “chasing the wind“.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 NLT So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
The real reasons we stay busy
The world’s motto of “carpe diem” tells us to make the most of each day. Our world’s busy-ness is driven by a subconscious desire to sustain value and meaning in life. Over and above our basic necessities, we are busy acquiring greater favour, more money, better schooling, higher status, improved health, enhanced beauty, more knowledge and so forth. We need to be careful because such desires typically only “plunge us into ruin and destruction”.
1 Timothy 6:6-9 ESV But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
The real reason many of us are so busy is due to fear. Fear holds us back from resting and trusting that God will meet all our needs. Fear robs us of the ability to be still and worship Him. It rips away the peace, hope and joy that we have from God.
Psalm 46:10 NASB “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Here are some of our fears and what God’s Word has to say to us.
| Our fears | What God says |
| 1. Fear of abandonment | Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” |
| 2. Fear of failure | James 1:5 ESV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. |
| 3. Fear of growing old | Isaiah 40:31 ESV but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. |
| 4. Fear of loneliness | Matthew 28:20 ESV … And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” |
| 5. Fear of losing out | Matthew 6:32-34 ESV For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. |
| 6. Fear of not fitting in | 2 Corinthians 10:18 NLT When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them. |
| 7. Fear of rejection | Psalm 27:10 NLT Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close. |
| 8. Fear of suffering | 1 Peter 5:10 ESV And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. |
| 9. Fear of uncertainty | James 4:13-15 ESV Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” |
| 10. Fear of not having enough | Matthew 6:26-17 ESV Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? |
Understanding God’s rest
Where God is present, there is rest. God’s rest is much more than a physical one. It is not about sleeping, relaxing or going on holiday.
Exodus 33:14 ESV And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
The Lord’s rest involves our hearts, souls and minds. It brings a deep peace and satisfaction throughout our entire being.
- Rest for our hearts | John 14:27 ESV Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
- Rest for our minds | Isaiah 26:3 ESV You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
- Rest for our souls | Jeremiah 31:25 ESV For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
To experience God’s rest, we first need to drop our unfounded insecurities. Our Heavenly Father knows all our needs and desires, because He was the One who placed them in us in the first place. Who better than our Creator to satisfy our entire being?
Ezekiel 36:26 ESV And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Psalm 37:4,7 ESV Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Turning away from evil
The busy-ness of this world can drown out God’s Spirit in us and lead us down a path of “wickedness” that God did not intend for us. We may think that we have great plans and will accomplish great things, but as long we do them without God’s blessing, it will all come to nothing. Let’s remember that doing anything more or less that God’s will is senseless and irresponsible.
James 4:13-16 ESV Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Instead, we need to slow down and make time to enter God’s rest and seek His will. May our Lord call us “good and faithful servants” for making wise choices on our time on earth.
Hebrews 4:11 NLT So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
Matthew 25:23 NIV “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Testimony: Turning from being busy to trusting in God’s best
“My dad always seemed to be missing in action, never seemed strong enough to protect me, and was never in control when I needed him the most. As a result, I formed a belief that I need to protect myself, plan for myself, and resolve problems my own way if I want to make things better.
I realised that all this time, I had projected the same assumptions onto God, our Heavenly Father. While I felt and said that I believe, trust, and have faith in God, my actions showed I actually doubted whether God will really take action and deliver on His promises. Subconsciously, I believed that I need to take care of things, I need to make sure things progress, change, happen. Therefore, there is so much that needs to be done.
I always need to be doing something, I need to be busy, or else I’m wasting time. I need to know everything because I need to plan and make the best use of time, resources, and opportunities. Because I need to make sure things happen. But all these are just lies the enemy had put into my head, which the world has been reinforcing. All these were preventing me from truly trusting in God, and preventing me from fully receiving God’s love for me as my Heavenly Father.
The truth is, I do not need to plan. I do not need to know. I do not need to make sure things happen, because my plan is never better than God’s plan. I do not need to measure and track. It is not about meeting targets or achieving objectives. It’s not about making the best use of resources or every minute. It’s about leaving it to God, following His plan, His pace, His direction. And that’s all we are called to do. It’s about resting in His love.
Once I truly understood this, all of a sudden, I felt as if there is nothing left for me to do, and nothing I need to worry about. The burden of making sure things happened was lifted off my shoulder – just as Jesus had promised, we can take on His yoke which is light.
Now that I no longer have a long, long to-do list, I am left with so much more time! 24 hours a day used to be never enough. But now, it feels more than enough because I no longer have a long list of things I think I need to do. There is only one thing that I need to do – and that is to love God.”
May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love God with all your heart and rest your true rest in Him.