Come Apart or Come Apart

When I was 18, I drove to Chicago to attend Bible College.  After 4 years of working all night at odd jobs and attending class full time all day, I came home exhausted. 

My dad “suggested” that I stop by the family doctor for a check-up.  Our family doctor was a wonderful Christian man named, “Doctor Herman”.  He looked me over and said, “So, you are in Bible College. Do you ever read the Bible? Have you ever read Matthew 14, where Jesus took time off work to get alone on a mountain to pray? If Jesus needed to take time off from work to rest and pray, don’t you think it is a good idea for you too?” 

I am living proof that even pastor’s need a word of correction on occasion. For me, being on the “hamster wheel” and running at full speed makes me feel like I am accomplishing a great deal. 

Our society finds validation in the “hamster wheel”.  We start teaching kids this by booking their every waking minute in some sort of activity.  They don’t know how to be anything but busy.  Becoming a “workaholic” is part of the natural progression.   

There are 10,000 reasons for becoming a “workaholic”.  Most workaholics use obsessing about work as a technique to AVOID addressing the root problems in our lives. It is easier to stay at work and hide behind the cloak of "making a living" than to go home and address the "issues on the homefront" or open God's Word and stand honest and humble before our Creator and "address matters of the heart".   

To fully grasp how deceiving the whole “workaholic” problem can be, think about a magician.  When a magician performs his tricks, one hand is used to distract the audience while the other hand uses “slight of hand” techniques to fool everyone. 

When a workaholic has one hand waving in the air, showing everyone how busy he is and how much he is accomplishing, it establishes validation through motion.  Meanwhile the other hand is working behind the scenes to keep the illusion going.

I heard an old pastor say, “No one who has passed away and stood at the pearly gates of Heaven, ever shook his head in remorse, because he didn’t spend more time at the office”. 

"Immediately after this,

Jesus insisted that his disciples
get back into the boat
and cross to the other side of the lake,
while he sent the people home.  
After sending them home,
he went up into the hills by himself to pray.
Night fell while he was there alone.”
Matthew 14:23 NLT