2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
These Apostles knew what their ministry was. They did not want to get distracted from the calling of God. They didn’t want to get sidetracked by the urgent and neglect the eternal. The urgent has its place, but the Apostles recognized that their work could not be put aside. This process of staying focused in life is very difficult. Too often we get pulled aside by the urgent. There seems to always be some crisis that can suck our energy and time. If we are not careful we never get the important, mission essential tasks completed because we are always “putting out fires.” Chances are you have gotten pulled from a really important task in the past few days to do some urgent task. Life is filled with urgent. Sometimes urgent must be accomplished. But if all we ever accomplish in life is the urgent, we will probably be neglecting the long-term, eternal things in life. Fires and choking children are urgent things that must be attended to in the immediate moment. But many things that get thrust on us as urgent really are not. They are only urgent because they were neglected and pushed aside. They could have been done days or weeks ago, but someone let them slip. Now the deadline looms and we must push every other priority aside in order to finish the project. Over the years I have chosen to pull projects closer rather than push them off. I put time on my calendar to accomplish these tasks so that I will not be pushed by the deadline. I put them on my timetable rather than letting the ‘last minute’ syndrome control my life. I hate the push of ‘last minute’ things. I feel out of control if I live ‘last minute.’ These Apostles knew their ministry was preaching and teaching. They also knew that the care of widows was important, but that someone else would have to do it. If they did it, they would be neglecting the ministry of the Word. Sometimes we have to let someone else do a task even if it will not be done as well as we would do it, because we have other more important tasks that only we can accomplish on our list. Sometimes we have to drop tasks altogether. Take a look at what you are planning to do today and for the next week. Are there things you could do today that would relieve pressure later on in the week? If there are, pull them to today. Do them now. Take control of your schedule and you will notice fewer urgent tasks that suck all your energy.
The Arnold Journey 