When I look back on the year, there are so many things to be thankful for from God. When I look at myself, I only think of my infinite shortcomings. Of my five children, my second daughter went to Korea for work this July, so the number of children decreased by two, but I still live with three children, and among them are my young seven-year-old and teenage sons – so there is not a single day when my life is quiet. They are at an age where I should be spending a lot of time with them, but I am always sorry that I am unable to do so. The church has steadily grown, and the number of cell groups has increased. In the case of the Wimbledon campus, the 9am service has also recently started up, so Sundays have become even busier. There are many people I need to take care of, and I always feel bad towards our congregation as I cannot give them as much are as they should receive.
Furthermore, this year, as I took on the role of president of the Korean Church Association in England, I had to hold many events. However since I did not have the resources, I thought I should only hold events that were absolutely necessary. Yet by the grace of God, many important things were accomplished through external requests, so I was able to carry out the ministry of the association more fruitfully than ever without having to work as hard as I had thought.
A pastor once said during a sermon that many of the words we use are not representative of the gospel. While doing so, he introduced words that were forbidden to be used in his own church, and one such word was the use of ‘busy.’ According to his logic, since everyone is given 24 hours equally, everyone just does what they decide to do during that same time. So, since some people are not given 25 or 30 more hours a day and do more work by virtue of having that additional time, let’s not talk as if we are the only ones who are busier.
Of course, there are people who do more work during the given time, and there are cases where people use their time for their workplace, or for others rather than for themselves. Let us remember that those are things that they chose to do, so let’s not talk as if we are the only ones who are busier. When I look back, I only do what I can do within 24 hours, and even if I work harder than before because the amount of work has increased, if I can’t do it within that time, I have no choice but to postpone it or let it pass. There is no need to blame myself for something that cannot be helped, nor is there anything to blame anyone for.
As I live, I think that the state of one’s heart is more important than the amount of work. No matter how busy you are, if your mind is at peace and happy, you will be happy. On the contrary, even if you have enough time to lie down and watch YouTube for a long time, if your mind is uncomfortable you will be depressed. So rather than saying you are busy, you should say that you require God’s grace to help guard your mind. Looking at it that way, no matter how busy you are, worshipping God seems to be the thing that one should work hardest on. If you neglect personal or community worship just to be comfortable, your mind will be out of control, so no matter how much you lie in bed, you will not be at rest.
It’s okay if others think you are busy. After all, that busy schedule is ultimately something that I chose, but remember that we should not miss out on worshipping God. So through that worship, I can work harder with the grace that God pours out, and I will live a life that bears fruit that is not in vain.
Corinthians 15:10 – “But by the grace of God I am what i am and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
