In Part 1 of this 3 part blog, we discussed the potential underlying sin(s) that make us gravitate towards busyness. We also talked about how God views busyness. Now we’re going to discover how busyness impacts our relationship with God and others.

Due to its constant demands, busyness robs us of quality time with others. We either attempt to multitask or we run out of time to sustain relationships. I’m the queen of multitasking. I’ve been known to simultaneously feed our infant, make dinner and read to our toddler. But studies have shown that we cannot devote 100% to two higher level cognitive tasks. It’s impossible to truly be listening to someone while writing a text or email. And time is a finite resource. The time you give to one thing is subtracted from the amount of time you have for another. Sadly, we often leave measly leftovers of time for our most important relationships.

Even Jesus himself, being of flesh, felt the demands of busyness:

Luke 5:15-16: “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

Luke 4:42: “When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.”

The crowds wanted Jesus available 24/7. Jesus had the ability to cure yet chose to leave some people untreated. Why? He recognized that the “noise” of busyness impeded on his relationship with the Father. He was forced to retreat to quiet places to pray and be alone with the Father. He also chose to connect deeply with the twelve disciples. He could have spent every hour preaching to large crowds and constantly being on the move. But instead He prioritized His relationship with the Father and investment in the twelve disciples.

Take a look at your calendar and see where you spend most of your time. Does your relationship with God (and others) suffer as a result of your busyness? Has your daily devotional time become non-existent or just another task to complete? At church, is your mind constantly wondering about post-church activities or chores? Do friends no longer ask you to hang out because you’re never available?

God made us for community with Him. And He desires for us to have relationships which glorify Him: serving our spouses, raising faithful children, bearing others’ burdens, discipling fellow believers. Ultimately we need to ask ourselves: Are we willing to say “no” to certain requests and opportunities in order to say “yes” to quality time with God and others?