“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
-John 15:1-8
What is on your to-do list today? Go ahead, write it out. If you're like me, you already have one written, so go get it and observe what you see. Sometimes placing all that you intend to do throughout a day on a list can be overwhelming. Each item adds a bit more weight to the burden we carry around. Each line on our list is representative of a chunk of time that will be required to accomplish it. After all, we only have 24 hours in the day, and in between all the tasks, we still have to make room for eating, sleeping, and relationships, not to mention fulfilling our "duty" as a Christian lady by carving out some quiet time with God. So how do we accomplish all there is to do?
Let me begin by asking you a question: Which of those items did God ask you to do? I mean this in a very literal way. Which items did you specifically hear the voice of God, through either scripture or other divine revelation, did He ask you to write down on that list?
The first time I considered this, it certainly caused me to pause. Here is what I found. 1. God asked me to love Him. 2. He asked me to love the other people he placed in my path. (Luke 10:27) That is pretty much it. Oh, and I need to add one more item: 3. He asked me to rest. (Exodus 23:12)
"Rest? Seriously, God? Have you seen all of the stuff I need to do? I'm not even sure I can fit in a healthy lunch today, let alone time for rest!"
...And yet rest is so important to God that He actually made it one of the 10 Commandments. We are to take a Sabbath and keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8) This causes a problem for most people in our culture. We fill our schedules with so many "good" things that we couldn't possibly carve out time for a day off. Could it be that a large portion of the tasks on our To-Do lists are items that God never meant to be there at all?
Perhaps we need to take a closer, deeper look at the items on our lists. How do they line up with the 3 things God asks us to do?
God asks us to love Him first, but did He ask us to be at the church building every time the doors are open?
He asks us to love our family, but does that mean keeping an immaculately clean house perfectly decorated at all times in case the odd visitor would stop by? (And when was the last time that actually happened, by the way?)
He asks us to love our husbands, but does that mean signing him up for every marriage study or family event regardless of his workload or your family circumstances?
God asks us to love our children, but does that mean running them endlessly to every different sport, club, and program available to them?
God asks us to love our friends, but has He asked us to make Pinterest-worthy homemade gifts for every special occasion imaginable when we're not even sure what we're making for dinner tonight?
Seriously, I am tired just thinking about that list. It looks an awful lot like mine, by the way.
Praise God that He has given us a better way. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus knows exactly what the burden feels like, and He has no desire for us to keep carrying it. There is no amount of work we can do that will make Him love us more. He already loves us as much as He ever will. That's the thing about Jesus... He loves us perfectly and unconditionally. He always has and He always will. So what are we working so hard for? Is it for his acceptance? We already have it.
You may say, "I love Jesus so much I just want to serve Him with my life and give my gifts to furthering His kingdom on earth every way I can." Sister, I love your heart. Let me gently tell you that you may have it wrong. Just because you see a need doesn't mean you are the one to fill it. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Just because it is an important ministry doesn't mean you have to be involved. God has given each of us a specific set of skills to do a task He has set out for us. It is not for us to go looking for it. We just need to be still and ask Him what it is He wants us to do.
Taking it even a step further, when we attempt to accomplish Kingdom work outside of a commission from God to do so, it is meaningless. *Gasp!* That realization was a punch in the gut to me, too. Scripture tells us, however, that God prunes the unnecessary work from us (fruitless branches) to be tossed into the fire. 1 Corinthians 13 paints a great picture of this: "If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing." Unless we are doing the work God has ordained for us to do, it is absolutely useless for the Kingdom of God.
Living in the world is not easy. (Understatement of the year, right there.) As my pastor says, our culture wears busyness like a badge of honor. We feel that there is something redeeming about staying busy. As if by working hard enough we can earn self-worth. Ladies, we have it backwards! It is only by resting in Jesus that we will ever feel self-worth. We are worthy because Jesus says we are. Period. He felt we were so worthy, in fact, that he literally died for us so that he can live with us forever. This is true for every single person who ever lived. Nothing you have ever said or done has deemed you unworthy in the sight of God.
Here is the kicker: unless we cease our work, we can never feel the rest of God which leads to hearing the voice of God. God mostly speaks to us in gentle, quiet whispers of our soul. Is it any wonder we can't hear Him above the loud voices around us and inside us shouting reminders of the list that never seems to end. Sometimes God chooses to shout if we've gone too long without listening. The very thought of that makes me shudder...
God has been guiding me through a season of pruning and cutting off branches of my life that do not bear fruit. Ladies, it is not always fun. Especially since I am a people-pleaser who feels the need to help anytime there is a need. However, I have also discovered that I am tired. I'm not talking the kind of tired that is cured by a nice nap. I mean I am tired down into the depths of my soul. The kind of tired that makes me think I will never be energetic again until Jesus comes back. God has been nudging me to begin laying my burdens down. I don't want to lay down burdens, but Jesus says there is a better way, so I choose to trust Him.
The cool thing is that if I begin to lay down the burdens that I picked up in my own flawed reason, that eventually I'll have room for what God has asked me to pick up. Even cooler: I'll have the time and energy to do it WELL. Do you know what it feels like to complete a task well? Do you also know what it feels like to be stretched so thin that you don't feel you've done anything well? I would trade the latter for the former any day.
There is a concept we teach in discipleship groups at my church. It is not scripture, but I believe it is consistent with scripture so I am going to share it with you. The concept is that we will only be as fruitful as we are rested. In other words, the more time we take to spend resting with God absorbing his wisdom and turning to Him for our needs, the greater work we will be able to do for Him. Isn't that what we all want? To hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
So here is my challenge for you:
Place your to-do list before God and pray over it. Ask Him if there's anything on the list that you need to cross off before it's done. He will give us an answer. Don't worry that God will ask you to drop everything and bail on every commitment you have as of noon tomorrow. He may, but I seriously doubt it. Next, add in a time of planned rest. It doesn't have to be an hour and a half of silence. Maybe just begin with the first five minutes you are awake. You may be surprised what a difference this small change makes in your day. One more thing: don't pick up any new commitments until you have asked God about it. I have decided not to add another commitment to my schedule unless I hear God asking me to do it. Not confident in hearing the voice of God? Your ability to hear Him will improve with rest, I promise.
In His perfect provision, God will give (and take) exactly what we need when and how He sees fit. We need only trust that He is good and that He loves us. Matthew 7 tells us, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
I'm confident that the God who loves you so much will show you a better, more achievable list. Before you know it, you'll be crossing items off your revised To-Do list with more precision and zeal than you ever thought possible. And who doesn't like to see a completed To-Do list?
