"Too Busy?"
NEVER GETS OLD
Hopefully, the beauty of God’s creation never gets old. A rainbow should never lose its luster. A colorful sunset should take our breath…every time. The vibrant fall leaves should cause us to take drives through the countryside just to see them…every year. The massive, roaring, ocean, even if we have seen it a hundred times, should never fail to amaze us. A dazzling display of lightning accompanied by its booming dance partner, thunder, never ceases to delight me. Granted, I respect storms and their ferocity (we all should) and the danger they pose, but, other than the potential destruction, I love storms. My dad always said there is no better sound than that of rain falling on a tin roof.
Yet, we are busy. We have things to do. We have appointments to keep, people to see, places to go. “This sounds great in a sermon, but let us get real and leave your little fantasy land! How many of us have time to stop and stare at a dragonfly or sit and watch the sun drop below the horizon or take a walk in the woods or lay out in a hammock at night and gaze at the stars?” It is a legitimate question for our “rat race.” By the way, I heard a terrific comment about the rat race the other day from a stock market consultant of all people. He said something like “No matter if we win or lose the rat race, if we are even in it, what does that make us? You got it…rats!” Isn’t that insightful? Even for those people who spend their entire lives and eventually do win the world’s “rat race,” what have they really won? A rat race.
So I guess I would answer your question about the busyness of our little worlds and precious little time to seek the beauty of the Lord with a similar answer, “It depends on what you want to be. Would you rather be a rat or reflect the glory of the one true God?” Let me repeat and I will continue to repeat it, “We do what we want to do.” It is as simple as that; we do what we want to do. If we want to join the rat race, that’s what we will do. If we earnestly, in our hearts, decide that the search for the beauty of the Lord is more important in life than the rat race, then we will do it. Again, it is as simple as that.
If we truly believe and feel our purpose in life is to enjoy God and enter into that glory with Him, then we will begin to take time to seek His face and take note of His beauty in creation. The famous Westminster Catechism of 1646 asks and answers perhaps the most basic question for human life, “What is the chief and highest end of man? Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”
If we sincerely believe in our hearts and minds that our purpose in life is to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever, then we will do just that. Faith, that is, a lack of it, is usually the culprit. Most of us do not believe it…really, truly, deep down in our innermost being. Are we too busy racing other rats to fulfill our divine purpose in this life? I’m just asking.