We have to take time back.
Relationships are what matter.
Proverbs 11:24 says, "The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller."
This isn't just about money. We are generous or stingy with our time too.
People understand if we don't show up. People understand if we cancel. People understand when schedule conflicts come up. But maybe we need to say, "No!" to allowing things to cancel those things that are important. Maybe we need to tell people "No" when something is scheduled during Bible study time or church time or that weekly coffee meeting you have with a friend.
Maybe we need to be firm on this. I realized this this morning after reading that verse above in Proverbs. Yesterday, someone scheduled a meeting for me to attend for one of my kids but it conflicted with a Bible study I am putting on for a handful of people. The "nice" person in me said, "Oh, you can reschedule the Bible study," and I almost did. But then I thought, "No. If I cancel and try to reschedule it isn't going to happen."
I am so glad I made that decision. And I made another commitment to a friend -- a commitment we've been trying to honor for a long time, but life has gotten in the way. This morning we said, "No more" to life letting it cancel that very important commitment.
The enemy and the world love to keep us too busy to work on relationships. This is not from God. Busyness is not from God. Endless activity is not from God. Real change comes through relationship. Real change doesn't come through lots of activity -- that activity is often just distraction.
We gotta make commitments to spiritual things and stick to them. We don't tell our supervisors at work that we have to cancel the work day because something else came up. Work is important, but is it more important than people or God?
I am speaking to myself too. Don't let activities get in the way of those times that will deepen relationships in your life. Sure, God uses activities, but often it is the time with others after the activities, times of reflection, when God uses them.
Let's tell the world, "No more!" when it comes to missing church or the Bible study or the visiting time.
(By the way, this is a form of spiritual warfare.)