A Theory About The Busy Christian
August 10, 2009 by Marci
Someone emailed me this story some time ago. I read it from time to time to remind me to keep striving to overcome “busy”.
Satan’s Convention
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his assembled demons he said: “We cannot keep the Christians from going to church. We cannot keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We cannot even keep them from conservative values. Nevertheless, we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So, let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyle, but steal their time, so they cannot gain that relationship.
This is what I want you to do. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection!”
“How shall we do this?” shouted the demons.
“Keep them busy with the non-essentials of life. Invent schemes to occupy their time.” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10 – 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Also:
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- Super-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice.
- Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, and to keep the TV, VCR, CD players and PCs going constantly in their homes.
- See to it that every store and restaurant in the world blares secular music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.
- Fill their coffee tables with secular magazines and newspapers.
- Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.
- Invade their driving moments with billboards.
- Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes.
- In their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week.
- Do not let them go out in nature to reflect on God’ s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts, and movies instead.
- When they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion.
- Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ in prayer. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”
Convention Aftermath
It was quite a convention. The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.
How about this definition of BUSY: Being Under Satan’s Yoke.
Author Unknown
Comments (4)
Awesome!! This is so so true, every little bit of it! Thanks for sharing!
Great post! It sounds like the inspiration for that story may have been sparked by that book by C.S. Lewis where the devil trains his apprentice devil: The Screwtape Letters.”
The distraction of busyness.
Someone interviewing me asked me how I would address people who really thrive on living a high-speed life. I pointed out that they may crave the adrenaline of a packed life, but even they will benefit from learning how to take some time to be still before the Lord, to pray, to listen to His voice. I hope that even those who may listen to the interview and feel defensive about their pace of life because they love to go fast and pack their days full, will ponder the idea–no, the danger!–of being too busy for God Himself.
I have heard this before – but it is good to come across it again, and allow a reflection on how I’m going now. I see a few areas I’d like to improve on. Thanks for the post.