This past weekend, Pastor Dave and Pastor Fabian kicked off The Monsters Within with a message called “Sloth & Diligence.” When most of us think of sloth, we think of laziness or inactivity. However, in their message, Dave and Fabian described that sloth can also look like busyness, but busyness going after the wrong things. In our lives today, how often do we go after the wrong things?

 

We wake up, make breakfast, get the kids off to school, go to our jobs, come home, make dinner, then crash on the couch for an hour before bed and doing it all again the next day. We’re not lazy. Most of us are exhausted, burnt out, and doing anything we can to find five minutes of peace and quiet during the day. But what a challenge from this past weekend, that sloth can look like busyness going after the wrong things. We may not know what the “wrong things” look like in our lives, but we know what the right thing is: time pursuing–and spent with–God.

 

Using that as our compass, knowing it’s of extreme importance to seek God and spend time with Him daily, what keeps us from doing that? Most of our daily schedules aren’t packed wall-to-wall. We have some free time during the day. Whether we like it or not, busyness going after the wrong things might look like shopping, scrolling through social media, playing video games, or hanging out with friends. Now, are those things wrong in themselves? Not necessarily, but when they start to become the norm and take our time away from pursuing God, then there’s an issue. 

 

It’s football season; many of us make sure we’re not missing any of the action, but are we also finding time for church on the weekend? After a long day, all we want to do is scroll mindlessly on our phones, but are we also setting aside time to jump into a devotional? We tuck our kids in and hope they’ll fall asleep fast so we can fall asleep fast, but are we willing to give up an extra five minutes to pray with them and pray for ourselves? 

 

We run our lives at light speed, and our schedules fill faster than we’d like to admit, and our free time is so precious, but if we don’t have time for God during our days, something is harshly out of balance. God created us to have a relationship with Him. Just like any healthy relationship, it’s a two-way street: God is there for us, but are we also going after Him? And if we’re not spending time with Him daily, what can we give up? 

 

Our free time is valuable, and we earned it, but let’s be sure it’s also paying dividends. Football, social media, and sleep are all great, but connecting with God helps propel us, and it deepens our relationship with Him. After praying, a devotional, or going to church, no one ever says, “I wish I hadn’t spent time doing that.” So let’s diligently seek Him because our earthly desires will dissolve away, but our eternal rewards are priceless.

 

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