Is it OK to be Busy in Ministry [EP:107]

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Are you busy in ministry?  Is it ok to be busy in ministry?</span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-weight: 400;">I will admit that there was a time when I didn’t think it was ok to be busy and I’m now rethinking this idea. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">I think it depends on what we mean when we say “busy.”</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Here are some definitions of busy:</strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">activity or fully engaged or occupied</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Crowded with or characterized by much activity</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Constant at work, diligent; active.</span></li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My friend Amber doesn’t use the word busy. She substitutes the word busy with productive. For her, busyness means a time of increased productivity.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, if we think about those definitions and concepts of busy there is really n</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">othing wrong with being fully engaged, productive, diligent, and active. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jesus was all of those things. He was active in the work God gave Him. He was focused. There isn’t anything wrong with having seasons where there is a lot to do. Even seasons where you might have to make adjustments for the short term because of a particular event or season in the life of the church.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>But here’s the thing, that’s not what I think most of us are talking about when we say we are busy in ministry. Busy is not productive. Our busyness is counterproductive because we just have too much activity. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When we talk about busy we usually mean that we’re in a place where it is hard to get it all done, in fact, maybe we aren’t getting it all done. Things that need to happen are going by the wayside. When we talk about being busy we don’t mean we are simply occupied