S P I R I T U A L   P O W E R P O I N T S

Storms of Life

The Scurry Syndrome

July 2000 - By Brooke Redwine - Staff writer

    Mrs. Smith needs you to work in the nursery for Mom’s Morning Out. Then, you wanted to take your friend out to lunch because she just broke up with her boyfriend. The church social is at 6 p.m., so you have to finish the floral arrangements you volunteered to throw together. And somewhere in between all this, you wanted to clean out the garage for that garage sale you’ve been planning for months, and the dog needs to go to the vet.

    Does this sound familiar? Are your days spent running from here to there, making you feel like you’ve been put through the spin cycle at the local Laundromat one too many times? It is easy to succumb to the Scurry Syndrome when you’re seeking to serve the Lord in all that you do. Running around from place to place with your hands in nine different tasks at once is tiring. At some point, you stop to wonder what happened. How did you get out of breath?

    As Christians, we often confuse serving the Lord with "doing for the Lord." The word servant comes from bond-servant as seen in Romans 1:1, which says, "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God." Bond-servant derives from the word slave, which means "to bind." Believers who volunteer to be servants of Christ willingly renounce their rights and their personal will. They vow to do only the will of God. This is one way servants of Christ are bound to Him, and they are also bound to the Lord’s care because He promises to care for His servants. By definition of the word servant, service cannot be a substitute for submission. Pure service to the Lord is motivated by submission to His will–and nothing else.

    Unfortunately, those inflicted with the Scurry Syndrome tend to race and strive in their walks with the Lord instead of resting in total submission to His will. He has a perfect plan for all His children, and He alone should order our steps. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." In seeking the Lord’s ordering of our steps rather than our own, two things must remain a priority in our lives: prayer and meditation.

    All who were used of God in the Bible put prayer as an important priority in their lives. If you are busy and feel like you’re a locomotive running out of steam, you may need to step back and examine your priorities. Has your desire to serve God become more important than your relationship with Him? It takes an honest heart to admit when your priorities have fallen by the wayside, and it takes a recommitment to prayer to restore your relationship with Him.

    Prayerlessness, no longer focusing on God and setting time aside just for Him, causes us to feel the weight of our burdens. Whether our burdens are placed on us by God or self-imposed, He desires us to roll them onto Him. Admitting our own weakness in the sight of the Lord humbles us and reminds us of the strength we can only grip in Christ. (Philippians 4:13) The result of not doing this is:

• Weariness: Becoming emotionally and physically worn out often leads to a lack of enthusiasm in the Lord’s work. It is dangerous because Satan has a greater invitation to attack you in your most vulnerable time.
• Discouragement: Satan also uses this to get your mind off Christ and lead you away from God.
• Doubt: Discouragement is always a pre-cursor to doubt.
• Disillusionment: You may begin wondering where God is in your life and if living your life in Christ really works.
• Disaster: The ultimate end of prayerlessness leads to a road of ruins in which you deliberately choose to step out of the will of God.

    If you realize any of these results in your own life, there is hope. Don’t allow the enemy to deceive you into thinking that your abandonment of prayer is cause for Christ to abandon you. In Hebrews 13:5, He promises never to leave or forsake you. But God does allow you to come to a point where you can do no more–except rest in and submit to Him. Ask God to restore your desire to let go of the burdens you’ve tried to carry without Him; He is always faithful.