If I hear one more person tell me how busy they are, I am going to scream!

“Paula, it’s so good to see you! I’ve been missing you!” “Whew! I’ve just been so busy lately.”

“Hey, Johnny. How you doing?” “Busy. How are you?”

“Michelle, I really need to talk.” “Wait, I’m busy right now. Can I call you back?”

At what point did our lives get so busy that we no longer seem to have time for the things that matter most? We rush through what’s important, so we can get to what is urgent, all while missing out on what’s eternal.

Busy is not a badge to be bragged about. In Luke 10:42, Martha was busy in the kitchen and missed out on the blessing of sitting at Jesus’ feet. In Matthew 21:19, the fig tree was busy making leaves and missed its opportunity to feed the Savior of the world. If what you’re busy doing takes you away from time in the presence of God or fulfilling the purpose for which He created you, you might need to question if it’s something you need to be doing at all.

When I asked the Holy Spirit to give me an acronym for the word BUSY, it only took a few minutes, and what He revealed blew me away… BUSY – Buried Under Satan’s Yoke. Busy is a place of bondage that feels impossible to break free from. We feel a heavy, overwhelming burden when Jesus clearly tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. When we busy ourselves with things the Lord never instructed us to do, we unyoke ourselves from Him and chain ourselves to burdens He never intended for us to carry.

We get no brownie points in glory for being busy. Please get what I’m saying here. Yes, we should be about our Father’s business. And yes, doing that can keep us active and on assignment. But Jesus didn’t die to set us free so we could be enslaved by busy.

If there’s no grace to juggle all the balls you currently have in the air, then you probably have picked up a few along the way that the Father didn’t hand to you. Lay them all down. Inspect them one-by-one. Identify which ones God gave you, which ones the enemy threw at you, and which ones you picked up on your own. The ones in the first group, keep doing. The ones in the second group, stop doing. The ones in the third group, ask the Father about each one of them and allow the Holy Spirit to help you eliminate as you go. Then, once you get free, refuse to be Buried Under Satan’s Yoke ever again.

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