by Tom Wacaster
Three weeks out of the office has left me so far behind that I doubt I shall ever catch up. Actually, it is very seldom that I feel as if I have caught up with the demands on my time, seeing I have this bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. I have sermons I want, and need, to preach. I have a backlog of books waiting to be read; and just about the time I start whittling down the stack of unread books, I buy some more that I think might be useful “someday.” I have people I need to go see, chores around the house that need to be finished, and books and articles I want to write.
In the early years of my mission work in Russia I was often astonished at the lack of efficiency of various aspects of life in that former Communist nation. On one occasion I was informed by my contact that the local post office had a solution to the large backlog of mail that frequently overwhelmed them. They were understaffed, poorly trained to do the job, and with the economy the way it was during the transition from a communist to a free-market system, the workers were putting in a lot of overtime without a fair compensation in wages. In order to handle the backlog, they would simply take several bags of mail out to the incinerator and toss what they deemed unimportant mail into the fire. One might ask, “How did they know if the mail was ‘unimportant’ if they didn’t take the time to open the mail?” Good question, but one that did not seem to slow down the process of ‘catching up.’ I don’t recommend using the Russian post office as an example of how to get caught up with what lags behind in your life; though at times I have been tempted.
When I read of Paul’s heavy schedule that was filled with mission travels, defense of the faith, and then add to this the time it took to pen (by inspiration) the largest portion of the New Testament, I sometimes wonder if he, too, ever played catch up. He made at least three mission trips, four if he ever made it to Spain like he intended. When I read of his activities on those various trips I wonder where he ever found the time to “make tents.” He wrote of his busy schedule with these words: “For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. But we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves overmuch, as though we reached not unto you: for we came even as far as unto you in the gospel of Christ: not glorying beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors; but having hope that, as your faith groweth, we shall be magnified in you according to our province unto further abundance, so as to preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond you, and not to glory in another's province in regard of things ready to our hand” (2 Cor. 10:12-16). Paul was so determined to preach the gospel to all who would listen that he would “most gladly spend and be spent for your souls” (2 Cor. 12:15). The literal rendering of that verse has Paul saying he would be willing to be “spent and spent out” for their souls. When I compare my life with the life of Christ, and my labors with those of Paul, I come to the realization that I fall far short of doing all that can be done for the cause of Christ. Perhaps my frantic rush to “catch up” is only an allusion, and what I really need to do is slow down and prioritize those things in my life that demand my attention. Think about it!