By Steve Horn
Some of you sports fans like me know the phrase “March Madness.” This is the phrase that identifies the NCAA basketball year-end tournament that crowns the National Champion for both men’s and women’s basketball.
I was thinking about this phrase “March Madness” in relation to my own schedule. We have major church events for the rest of this month, and I have a number of ministry, personal, and family matters to complete. (And, I’ve got some basketball to watch!) We are all busy.
How do we survive and thrive in these busy seasons of life?
- Prioritize. I have learned throughout life that we all basically can find a way to do what we really want to do. No one person can do everything, but we can’t use this as an excuse to do nothing. Pray to seek the Lord what should be your priorities.
- Worship. Worship must be a priority. Personal time with the Lord and corporate worship with our church family must be a priority. In my own life, I have learned that I must be more disciplined about personal worship in times of intense busyness. No one else helps me to protect my time alone with God. Everybody thinks their issue is more important than anyone else’s issue. We must resist the urge to give in to the temptation to neglect our time with God.
- Pace yourself. Life is a marathon and not a sprint. We have to run according to the strategy of the race. Slow and steady is almost always better than big bursts and burn-out.
Even Jesus modeled this for us. Luke recorded: “But the news about Him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.” Luke 5:15-16
Steve Horn is pastor of First Baptist Church in Lafayette and a past Louisiana Baptist Convention president. This editorial first appeared on his blog.
