Busyness....God's Way

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of:  Vitolda Klein

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

~Titus 2:3-5

I don’t use the NIV very often, but one day I happened to read the passage of Titus 2:3-5 in that version. It instantly struck me how the NIV words the portion pertaining to working at home:

“…to be busy at home…”

In our hustle culture, the term “busy” often gets a bad rap (and understandably so - sometimes we just flat out are too busy with misplaced priorities!). But just because we aren’t called to hustle and strive and be workaholics doesn’t mean it’s automatically wrong to “be busy”.


It all comes down to what we are busy doing.

There is something to be said for resting and finding refreshment, for going at a slower pace when needed, and for living life from a place of peace.

But that doesn’t mean we also should not be filling our time with important things.


The truth is that we are called by God to redeem the time well. 


The truth is that we were tasked by God to live out the Great Commission.


The truth is that God ordained before we were even born that we would walk in good works.


So we are called to be *busy with good things*.


Sometimes that will look like cleaning our house, cooking for our families and guests, loving our husbands and children well, and extending hospitality.


Sometimes that will look like meeting a deadline at work or pouring ourselves into ministry outside our home.


Sometimes that will look like prioritizing our friendships and going out to coffee with a friend who needs a shoulder to cry on. 


And, yes, sometimes that will look like slowing down, resting, and ceasing from our work like God Himself did.


But no matter what each day and each season calls for, we are allowed to be (and perhaps actually called to be!) busy….as long as we are busy being about the priorities the Lord has for us in any given moment.


We don’t have to boycott the word “busy”. We need only walk by the Spirit in our busyness, yielding to His direction in it all. 💕