WORK: A NARCOTIC

"My heart rejoiced in all my labor...And indeed

  all was vanity and grasping for wind.

                                             Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

A friend told me that he feels closest to God 

when he's the busiest. He explained that when 

demands are the greatest, he finds himself most
reliant on the Lord's strength. He pointed out,
 however, that unless he takes times for daily
worship, his work can quickly become an
escape.
    Many people engage in activity for activity's
sake and use busyness sa a device to avoid
facing reality. Just as alcohol can deaden the
 senses to personal relationships, family
obligations, and community responsibilities,
so also constant work can be narcotic. It fills
our sensitivity to the deeper issues of life.
    About 3,000 years ago, the author of
Ecclesiastes discovered this. He sought satis-
faction by busying himself  with building houses
and planting vineyards. But then as he thought
about the work he had done, he realized it was
Full of emptiness (2:10-11).
    We can make the mistake, even in the name
of the Lord. Could this be the reason some of us
try to keep the church running by our own efforts
but forget that fulfillment Coles only from heart
full of God? Are we laboring without those viral
times of worship and reflection? If so, it's time
now to worship before we get caught again in the
 trap of working merely for work's  sake.