Making Room

Matthew 4:1-11
Matthew 6:25-34

I cannot recall a time while growing up when I was ever excited about going to school. I hated school, and I just could not understand the kids who seemed to get so much out of it and actually ENJOY it! Some things were ok, I suppose, but I always had a hard time getting motivated enough to do my homework, study, and prepare for the next day. As a result, I was rarely prepared for tests which did nothing to alleviate my anxiety; in fact, it only made things worse. It was all so routine and mundane. Of course dealing with the routine and the mundane is part of the educational process. Young people have to learn that there is such a thing as “first things first”. The work has to be done before we can play.

Now that school is about to begin, I’m a little excited and nervous at the same time. I’m far enough along that most of the classes I have to take to finish my degree will be geared more toward those things which interest me, but there are still classes I will have to take that I’ve put off for so long.

I’m also more than a little concerned that I may be biting off more than I can chew. Attending classes four nights a week is going to leave very little room for much of anything else. With a full-time job, a part-time ministry, and a family with other activities, I’m going to be burning the candle at both ends.

Being too busy, though, is not my primary concern. A seminary instructor once said that our sense of theology is fed by whatever is primary in our lives. His concern was that seminary students spend too much time reading theology books and studying doctrines and not nearly enough time just reading, studying, and praying the Bible. In that sense, there is not enough focus on the Word of the Lord. Instead, the focus is placed on man’s concept and perspective of the Word and as a result, we can only see the Lord as others would have us to see Him.

There is another down-side to this. More often than not, my prayer life is almost non-existent. This is because I find myself all too often reading the Bible only in search of information for a paper or a sermon. When this happens, much can be overlooked and the voice of the Lord speaking to me through Scripture is inaudible because my focus is on the paper or the sermon and not on what He would will for me to glean from the reading.


I look around and can clearly see that I am not the only one who has this problem. Each of us has things we have to do. Our jobs demand a great deal from us, and our families are no less taxing on our time. Then there are those dreaded “routine” and “mundane” things that have to be tended to such as paying the bills, doing the laundry and shopping. Somewhere in all that, we have to find time just to relax and unwind because as much as there are things we MUST do, there are surely as many things that we would LIKE to do.

We are pulled in too many different directions, doing the best we can to deal with everything and forgetting that the Lord is still there patiently waiting to see when – OR IF – we will ever get around to asking for some help.

This is not to say that the Lord is going to wave a magic wand and tie up all the loose ends of our lives once we finally go to Him for help. What the solution for any of us might be will depend entirely on what He will ask of us as individuals and not necessarily as a people.

Beyond those who are overly busy, there are those who are afraid to turn attention toward the Lord, being afraid of what He may actually ask. These are people who are not turning their backs on the Lord, at least not intentionally. In fact, these are the people who have no doubt that the Lord exists and no doubt that He calls to His faithful and that His voice is unmistakable. These people also know that His call is compelling and undeniable. Faith will draw them in toward what the Lord would require of them, and then the anxiety of not getting everything done will set in and once again, the Lord is pushed aside out of a sense of our fear of failing Him.

Listen to this passage from Mark 6:45-46 after Jesus had fed the five-thousand with only five loaves and two fishes: “Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.”

Clearly even Jesus needed a break. Even in the midst of ministry, “down time” becomes necessary to pause, to reflect, to pray, and sometimes to “be still”. Especially in the midst of ministry, it becomes important to stop and remember why the ministry is even important in the first place! I’ve heard it said that we can sometimes become so wrapped up in our ministries that we completely lose sight of the Lord altogether and that our ministry soon becomes the “god” we seek to worship, the “works” we seek to please. I’m not sure I can find any fault in that statement.

There are two things that have to happen in order to correct our sense of priority. First and foremost must be the will to see to it. We have to want to stop and make time for the Lord. We have to have an inner desire to hear what He has to say, and we have to care enough to listen. Only He knows what we are missing out on when we don’t give Him the time and attention He deserves.

Secondly, we must believe in what Jesus teaches us about seeking the Kingdom of the Lord first and trust that when we make time for Him, He will help us to order our lives so that there is more than enough time to take care of the “routine” and the “mundane” as well as to give us time enough to enjoy the life that He has given us because this, too, is a divine gift.

Giving Him the time He needs to speak to us enables Him to bless and enrich our lives beyond measure, to give us everything we need and then some. Once we make room for the Holy Father, maybe we can then learn to count even the “mundane” and the “routine” among our many blessings to enjoy rather than being burdens to endure.

AMEN.