God who delivered David from a bear, a lion and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:37 has also delivered me from the dirt and more turmoil in life called busyness, greed, and selfishness. God’s role is evident in your life and mine.
I was seeking happiness and joy in all the wrong places. I sadly felt busyness was associated with success, and I wanted everyone to see I was busy. I found approval through admiration and joy through the next best gadget.
Thankfully God makes messy things beautiful; He created us for a purpose. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2, NIV).
This renewal changed my life forever and how I viewed relationships. Jesus tells us relationships are far more critical than schedules when he rebuked His disciples for attempting to prevent children from being in His presence “When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14, NIV). Spending time with my children is more important than my schedule. We can even learn from our children and replicate their loving curiosity for life.
When Tasks Take Over Family | God’s Role
When we value tasks over meaningful things, we take the priority off of things that matter. Surely, many tasks in life are worth doing, and it matters to God that you’re a hard worker, but how many times do we value work over our families, our churches, and even God himself? God will not demand extraordinary accomplishments from us, but He will delight our striving for excellent relationships. A healthy relationship with God gave me the power to fuel a healthy marriage, healthy relationships with our kids, and discipleship relationships with others.
Our lives are story formed, and God is still writing my story, and He is writing your story as well. God has always been delivering people from their enemies, and He is still working in and through me.
Author: Lew Everling
Prior to my wife leaving, I always thought working long hours, then coming home helping with a few chores, and redirecting the kids when they didn’t listen to her was “doing my part”. I could not have been more wrong. God really opened my eyes to how important all relationships are. Especially for me with my kids. It has been tough adjusting but with just me and them we put down the devices, TVs, etc… and just hang out. The kids just want our time. It could just be sitting in the living room on the floor being goofy. That list goes on and on. I cannot remember what pastor I heard say it but…Busy is another way of
Being
Under
Satan’s
Yoke
I had to learn to let my job know my family is first from now on. That I will do my best at work for them when I am there. Being obedient to God, He will clear that path for you one way or another.
Joshua, thank you for sharing your heart on this topic. As men we tie our job, car, education, swagger and more to ourselves it’s hard to understand that God has something different in mind. Thank you for being Uncommen
Being Under Satan’s Yoke, I need to remember that. Thank you for sharing your story.
Amen, thanks for sharing Joshua. Kids just want to feel loved and how we do that is spending time with them!
I love reading these
Thank you for your encouragement Mike
As a father of 5 boys and a baby girl, I often feel that I should be looking for more money-making opportunities. Three years ago I stopped working at my $60,000+/year job to one that pays less than $45,000/year and God in His grace still allows us to live with a surplus. And my relationship with our children and my wife is phenomenal.
I am a father of an almost 3yo jewel of a little girl and soon to be born little boy. My wife and I have fought about my working two jobs. I’ve read comments and the article. My wife would agree with you on most if not all of these points. However, how do you show your loving your family if your life is filled with debt? She wants me to spend more time at home but I have to work two or three jobs so that we have food on the table and a roof over our heads. I feel that I would be failing my family if I quit one or both of my other jobs. I know debt is my fault (for those that might mention the obvious). I am just looking for wisdom and advice.
Isaac, thank you for reaching out to us. I too understand just where you are coming from as my wife and I went through something similar about 23 years ago. We had our first son and she was going to go back to work but God moved in a mighty way and provided for her to stay home. That meant a single income household for the first time and that was the hardest 7 years of our lives. I could have gotten a second job, but if I’m missing time with my family, then what’s the true benefit. Now some 23+ years later and I’m so thankful I invested time with my wife and now two sons. I’ll never have regret for missed time spent because while we just scrapped by for those “lean years” we were happy. In spite of what society says, your house, car or band account does not matter. I’ve never had a lot of money, but I’ve always been rich.
Scale down your life to fit in one job and invest time with your wife and kids. Jesus said in Matthew 26:11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. He knew the importance of spending time with people.
I hope this helps. If you need something more, please reach out to me at [email protected]
We will be praying for you and your situation.
Stay Uncommen Isaac
Isaac, getting out of debt is never easy and I don’t know how your going to do it, but I do know that God wants you to have good relationships with your family, and you can’t do that if your not there. There is a song by Casting Crowns called American Dream. I would recommend that you listen to it. In it he talks about how he sees playing with his son as a waste of time cause he’s to busy working, trying to to provide them with finer things. In Gods eyes those are time spent with our loved ones not material possession’s.