Last week, the Chaplain’s Corner was about recharging yourself for God’s work. I imagine that if you even had time to read this, your first thought was “when will I have time to do all this? Don’t you realize the hours I’m already working?” Let me just respond by suggesting that you look at the life of Jesus. A participant in one of my Bible studies made a remarkable statement last week about the life of Jesus. She said something like this:

“Even though Jesus knew he would only have about three years of ministry, and even though he know more than anyone the scope of the need for his ministry, he was never in a rush.”

I’m telling you, that really spoke to me. Just give me a deadline and I become a whirling dervish of activity. I can easily become more concerned about the doing than who I am doing it with or for, just being honest.

What was Jesus’ secret? How could he be so “in the moment” and unharried? Let’s look at some examples

• “My job is to the ones my father gave me. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:38-39).
  • Jesus knew what his priorities were, and who he answered to.

• “So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love (Lazarus) is sick.’ When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’” (John 11:3-7)
  • Jesus knew that God was ultimately in control of his schedule.

• “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). “Therefore Jesus told them, ‘My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go to the festival. I am notgoing up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” (John 7:6-8)
  • Jesus knew that God was sovereign over his time.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus often got alone, not just for some rest and a change of pace, but also that He might spend time in communion with His heavenly Father. Notice these observations by His disciples:

1. “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and He was alone there for forty days, except for when the Devil came to tempt Him” (Matt. 4:1–11).
2. “After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” (Matt. 14:23).
3. “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35).
4. “When it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place” (Luke 4:42).

Jesus often sought solitude to have time alone with his Father. Jesus not only modeled prayer in solitude, He exhorted us to do the same: “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:6).

Jesus also found time to be with his disciples, with his friends, and even with sinners and Pharisees. It seems that he liked a good party. There are stories about his inviting himself to Zacchaeus’ (tax collector) house and also having dinner at Simon’s home. His first miracle was at a wedding, which was always a large family affair.  Here’s a passage about dinner with Matthew:

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”’ Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.’”

I mean, shouldn’t he have been at the synagogue reading the scrolls? Or just maybe this dinner party was the better opportunity, and he took advantage of it.

When Martha got upset about Mary who just wanted to hang with Jesus rather than helping in the kitchen (after all, it was nearly time for dinner and all these people are coming), Jesus chided her, “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” In 2022 I am challenging myself to live more like Jesus did, and to be concerned about the One Thing that is worth being concerned about, and that is to seek the presence of my heavenly Father.

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4).

In Christ,

Judy