Is Jesus missing from your busy life?
Allison Moore
“How are you doing?”
“I’m good. Busy, but good,” I replied.
Everyone is “busy” these days, and sometimes, we wear it like a badge of honor. We strive for the day when things calm down, but it eludes us because as soon as one activity ends, we shove another in its place.
Are we afraid of missing out? Are we overloading our schedules because we desire more but have no idea how to get it?
More of anything but Jesus will leave us more worn out and depleted. More of Jesus results in lives that are overflowing with hope, peace, joy, and contentment.
Our lives will be forever changed when we realize God cares far less about what we’re doing than who we are becoming. The most abundant life is quite simple. The abundant life is more of Jesus.
Eight Easy Ways to Connect with Jesus Every Day
1. Be still.
Take the time to be still instead of running in circles losing our minds in the process.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God...”
2. Pray.
Prayer is how we communicate with our heavenly Father. It is a time to adore him, confess our sins and struggles, thank Him, and bring our requests to Him. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives His disciples a model of how to pray, saying:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
3. Listen.
Many see interaction with God as a monologue rather than a dialogue. When we do this, we miss out on half the conversation. The Lord has so much more for us if we would only listen. Jesus wants prayer to be a two-way conversation where we receive guidance and correction from His Spirit, “when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth...” (John 16:13).
4. Read the Bible.
The Bible is God’s words written down for us. Everything we need to know about Jesus and His desire for our life, we can find in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...”
5. Love others well.
The whole of God’s commands can be summed up in a sentence: Love God and love others. When asked which is the greatest of God’s commands, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
We’ll never really put others first until we put God first. And when we commit to loving others well, we’ll find ourselves coming back to the Lord, again and again, to fill us up with His love (1 John 4:19).
6. Serve someone else.
Using our gifts and serving others is more life-giving than depleting. When we serve others, we are “acting as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).
7. Praise Jesus often.
In every stage of life, whether it’s a spiritual mountaintop or spiritual valley, worshipping the Lord changes our hearts and perspectives and draws us closer to Him (Psalm 22:3).
8. Give back.
God doesn’t need anything from us, yet He tells us to give generously (Luke 6:38). That’s because giving changes the giver as much, if not more, than the receiver. When we give, it creates a generous heart in us and draws us closer to Jesus.
When we load our schedules like worker ants scurrying to and from the anthill, we find ourselves feeling worn out and hopeless. We don’t need to strive for abundance because it’s already been given to us. More of Jesus really is all we need.