Busyness is Moral Laziness

We have all said it, and we have probably meant it when it came out of our mouth. “I don’t have enough time” is a repeated refrain for many. I was once again challenged about this mindset after hearing a podcast in which a seminary professor named Bruce Hindmarsh made the following statement:

“Busyness is moral laziness [because it is often a statement of our self-importance and our excuse to be inattentive to people]. . . . But God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present. Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to do what God has called us to do.”

That caught my attention. The very thing we think we are avoiding, laziness, is the very thing that is being indulged by coddling a packed schedule. How can this be? Because there are different kinds of laziness.

A key word in the quote above is “moral.” When we speak of morality, we are entering into a realm of the immaterial. We are not just talking about what is; we are talking about what should be or should not be. Good and evil are judgments that are made based upon worldviews, whether supernatural or not. This is why those evolutionary athiests who are consistent will say there is no “good” or “evil.” Their worldview asserts that everything is just the result of time and chance acting on matter. Things just are or are not. But morality is a declaration that something is right or wrong. It is the proclamation that there is a design, a standard, a law by which everything is judged. If something accords with that standard it is right. If it deviates it is wrong.

Moral laziness means we are not working through all the implications of the choices before us. We are choosing something without determining if it is right.

With this established, we can now think about our calendars. They are full, yes, but are they right? Being morally lazy means you don’t ask whether your calendar is right or wrong. It just is, and so that is what you do. It doesn’t matter what new situation has arisen. It doesn’t matter what you may be able to move around. It doesn’t matter what can be sacrificially removed. All that matters is your schedule filled up and so that is what you are going to do. You are morally lazy and your busyness is the sinful outworking of it.

Jon Bloom said, “Busyness can easily be an escape…It’s much easier to be the victim of circumstances than to be responsible for a mistake. And an overflowing schedule can become a shield protecting us from the unpredictable, inconvenient, time-consuming needs of other people. It’s an effective cover. Who can argue with you if you have too many things to do? Jesus can (Luke 14:15–24).”

We need to repent of this busyness resulting from moral laziness. Repentance means you do not declare to yourself and the people around you that you are busy. Repentance means you surrender your calendar to the Lord of time. It means you walk by faith in the God who is able to supply strength and wisdom to use your 24 hours in the best way.

So what does this look like practically?

1) Make plans on a calendar – I am not advocating a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mentality. We are made in the image of God and He is a plan-making God. Being a steward of time means we have to plan and prepare for what is coming so that we will use it well.

2) Surrender your arrogance and hold plans loosely – When we make plans, we make them according to what we think is best. There is no problem with that, until we don’t think there could be a better way. Our arrogance is exposed when God overturns our plans and we respond with something other than peaceful adjustment. God may overturn our plans in ways we call “acts of God,” but they also may happen through very ordinary means. If our arrogance is high, we get frustrated even with the “act of God” events like storms and sickness. But our arrogance is just as real when we get frustrated with people who don’t follow through; or when we spill coffee on our suit. God is displaying His sovereignty over our day, and we don’t like it. We have our plans. As James 4 tells us, we must say, “If God wills, we will do such and such.” We have to trust that God has the best plan for our day, and as a good Father he will overturn our plans if He must. We are to readjust our plans, and do so with the peace that comes from knowing the Father’s heart.

3) Do the humble work of finding out what pleases God – Laziness is such a great word for describing the busyness issue, because to deal effectively with it requires thought and effort. Should you prepare for that Sunday school lesson or help your neighbor with their project? Should you have a discussion with your wife or go fishing with your son? There are no easy answers to these questions. There are issues to weigh, other connected factors to consider, the context of each situation to be evaluated. This is hard. You need to pray. Much biblical wisdom is needed. But the morally lazy person doesn’t bother with the difficulties. He just does what is on his calendar. And what will he tell the person who doesn’t get the help? “I am too busy to help.”

4) Trust God to give grace and strength for the 24 hours he plans for you – We all have enough time to do what God wants us to do. The laziness comes in when we don’t care to know what God wants us to do. If we successfully battle laziness, sometimes the next battle is distrust. Distrust comes in when we think we know what God would will, but it will cost us or be very difficult for us. In these moments we have to trust God that He will provide what is needed. Maybe He will provide wisdom to find another solution that was not seen before. Maybe He will provide time by freeing us up from doing something we thought we would have to do. Maybe He will provide strength to finish something that we never dreamed we would finish so quickly. Maybe He will provide extra help from people we didn’t think were available. Who knows what God will do? We must concern ourselves with working hard (which means being busy) on the tasks which are the most important according to God’s Word even if it means great sacrifice. He will take care of the rest.

5) There is a place to say “no” – To be clear, I am not advocating that you double-book yourself and trust that God is going to work it out. That is presumption. Instead, I am advocating sacrifice and redistribution. When God brings an opportunity before you and all indications are that this is good and needful, you should be willing to cut out tasks that were for yourself, be it times of rest or just normal daily duties like cutting the grass. Sometimes you should even cut out sleep to do something God brings to you. Other times things can be reprioritized and done later. But there is a place to say no. You do have to sleep, and you do have to cut the grass, and you will need to relax and unwind. These are biblical realties as well. Again, this is the work that has to be done. If you are morally lazy in this, you will most assuredly make time for yourself at the expense of what God would have you do for others.