06/20/11 MULTITASKING DURING CHURCH... PUHLEEEZ

06/20/11 MULTITASKING DURING CHURCH... PUHLEEEZ
(taken from my Promiselander's Musings)

The Word for the Day is Multitasking...
Don't Excuse Your Divided Attention By Calling It MULTITASKING
Multitasking, as it is generally used in our society, has its place, but during church is not the time or place.

Sometimes “Multitasking” is a euphemism for, “I will give a partial effort to something I am not interested in, while also doing something I want to do.” Spouses sometimes call it multitasking, when they choose to expend their time and energies in various directions, rather than committing to building a good marriage or being a responsible parent. People think that multitasking is the first cousin to being Superman or Superwoman, when in reality it may signal a person's incompetence in a given arena.

I could give examples of people “multitasking” to the detriment of relationships or at the cost of successful enterprises. I will not do that. Instead, I want to address the subject of this article, Multitasking During Church. I am using the term, “church” in reference to either worship, preaching, study or fellowship times.

Multitasking is Divided Attention...
Multitasking is an admission that a person's attention is being given to more than one unrelated pursuit at a time. People will boastfully tell you that they can adequately focus on more than one thing at a time. Though that may be true with some activities, it is not true in every situation. A doctor has no business watching the Super Bowl while he is performing brain or heart surgery. There are some things in life that should not be part of a multitasking effort: Service and Worship to God should not be given a partial effort.

Church Activities Demand Total Focus...
To worship God in spirit and truth, precludes a person dividing his energy and attention, even with other God oriented activities. Of course, this is obvious to the person who is worshiping in spirit and in truth. This is evident to the person who truly loves God, His Word and His people. After all, when a person is totally committed to, and involved in an activity, they do not divide their effort. Anything less than total involvement is not a person's best effort. Multitasking during church is dishonest and dishonoring to God.

Church Time is Not Spare Time...
Church time is not the time to catch up on writing correspondence, texting friends, sorting pictures, writing memoirs, planning activities, knitting or clipping your fingernails.
Church time is not the time to fret over work problems, family problems, money problems, health problems, relationship problems.
Church time is not the time to think about the big game, the upcoming concert, the next party, your summer vacation, your impending nuptials or your scheduled divorce, movies or TV programs.
Church time is not the time for the worship leader to plan the songs for the next service, not the time for the teacher to plan her lesson, not the time for the Building Chairman to sketch plans for the new addition. Leave your baggage and your distractions outside.

Don't Degrade the Church...
If you are not going to give God your all during church time, don't bother to come at all.
If you are going to play games and pretend to give God your all, don't come at all.
OR,

Come and surrender to God as soon as you enter the gathering.

Confess your lack of pure commitment and ask God to deliver you.
THEN, worship, praise, study and fellowship in the beauty of holiness.

There are at least three reasons a person should not give partial effort to God during church time.

GOD DESERVES OUR TOTAL EFFORT...
No one should render to the God of the universe anything less than total effort, time and energy. He has given us 168 hours a week and He expects us to come aside from the activities of the world in order to draw closer to Him.
If lovers expect full attention from one another, how much more should God, the lover of our soul, expect us to give Him our full attention, if we love Him with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength?

If instructors expect full attention when they are imparting knowledge to their students, how much more should God, the Fountainhead of all truth and wisdom, expect us to give Him our full attention?

If coaches and managers expect 110% effort from their players and workers, how much more should God, Who has called us into His glorious service, expect our full attention.

WE NEED TO GIVE OUR TOTAL EFFORT...
We are a needy people.
We are a temporal people.
We are an easily distracted people.
We are a forgetful people.
We are a weak people.
We need to give God our best in order to receive His best.
We have so many flaws and problems that we need to focus completely on Him if we don't want to miss His best for us.

We prepare ourselves, equip ourselves and discipline ourselves to give our best effort in other areas of life, how much more should we want to give our best to God? How much more do we need to give our best to God?

OTHERS NEED/WANT US TO GIVE OUR TOTAL EFFORT...
The people sitting near us do not need the distraction of multitasking during church.
Children and new people need to see us totally involved in the church service. They need to see what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. They may be learning from us.

There are others who are in dire need of what God wants to give them, and multitasking robs them of God's best. No man lives to himself. We are our brother's keeper. God has prepared your neighbor's heart, prepared the message, prepared the service and the devil wants to use us to undermine the plan of God. It is Satan's purpose to disrupt church, it is our responsibility to keep from being Satan's tool of destruction.

There are those who have come to offer their best and to enjoy God's best during a church service and they should not be robbed of that opportunity by those who don't give God their all.

Oh, the glory that awaits a church when all of the people come together to worship in spirit and in truth. Do not be the one who sabotages the church.
We will either be a stepping stone or a stumbling block; a help or a hindrance; a blessing or a burden.

Launch Out and Hold Fast,
Pastor David L. Gould