The following article comes from the August issue of Ministry Today magazine:
Michael
Zigarelli, an associate professor at Charleston Southern's School of
Business, polled more than 20,000 Christians of all ages from 139
countries about the busyness of their lives and how it affects their
relationship with God. His report,
which concludes almost six years of collecting data, echoes the
obvious: yes, we're busy people; and yes, our hectic lives prevent us
from spending more time with God. Turns out almost six out of every 10
Christians around the world agree to the latter. But there are a few elements to Zigarelli's study particularly fascinating.
- American
Christians aren't necessarily the busiest. Japan, the Philippines,
South Africa, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Indonesia all had a higher
percentage of believers who stated they often or always rushed "from
task to task."
- African
Christians are most likely to claim their busyness gets in the way of
developing their relationship with God. (Two out of three South African
and Nigerian believers stated this.)
- The
Unites States is the only country where women topped men in saying they
were 1) almost always busy and 2) that busyness affected their
spiritual walk.
- Based on profession alone, pastors are
the most likely to say they often or always rush from task to task.
Yep, we beat out business owners, lawyers, teachers, salespeople ...
you name it. And while a whopping 72 percent of Christian lawyers said
their overloaded pace of life interfered with growing in the Lord,
almost two out of every three pastors made the same claim.
We
are busy. Too busy. And we don't need statistics to tell us that. But
maybe a study like this will wake some of us up to this reality: We, of
all people, must find a way to place the Lord above every urgent need,
every pressing appointment, every desperate cry. The Bible is explicit
in stating that as pastors and spiritual leaders, our standards are
higher. Yes, the
truth is, virtually everything we do stems from a God-given desire to
minister. That's good. But the greater truth is, how can we truly
minister without first being ministered to by God and receiving His
empowerment? We must place Him above all. YOUR TURN:
Are you too busy? If so, how does that affect your relationship with
God? What have you done to make that relationship top priority? What
advice would you have for those—particularly pastors—who struggle to
find time for God? |
