Then there are our work responsibilities. Some of us are 9-5, others casual, part-time or shift work, others "on-call" much of the time and still others have to juggle additional responsibilities with home and family life.
Add to that all of the technological demands: emailing; texting; updating facebook status and catching up on all those 600 "friends"; watching our favourite cooking shows, or doc- umentaries or movies or "all the above"; playing computer games PSP/PS3/x-Box...etc.
Not to mention some meaningful engagement with the wider "concerns of the day": the IPO of facebook on Friday last week making Mark Zuckerberg an even richer multibillionaire at age 28 and the subsequent stories of greedy underwriters inflating prices; Finance Minister Bill English's "zero-Budget" on Thursday, the first "State of Origin" Rugby League match on Wednesday (that video ref needs glasses); the ongoing "Euro- crisis"; elections in Egypt....
Lots of stuff aye! So where does God fit into all of this? Where does His church feature amid the various demands that we face? Sadly, too often we can view God and church as being in competition to these other demands. "Can we fit in attending Church when we already have so much on our plate?"; "How can I spend time praying and reading the Bible when these other things just NEED to be done now"; "I'll make more time for God when I start to get on top of some of these other things".
The reality however is that God is involved in all of this already. He is present in all of our circumstances and is available for guidance and comfort as we walk the journey with Him. Likewise church...we walk this journey together! We shouldn't consider church as "just another activity" to fit into our demanding lives, but as an opportunity to walk the Christian life with others who face similar pressures and demands that we do.
If we can see it in this way, we can know the truth Jesus shares in Matthew 11:28-30
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
My prayer is that each of us will know that kind of life!
Arohanui, Pastor David Auty