The busy-body instinct: Scriptural precedents and scary incidents

“Lord, do you not care that Mary has left me to do all the serving alone?  Please speak to her” (Luke 10:40)

The busy-body virus has infected many a good person. Even preachers catch it from time to time.  Some thoughts on the subject….

Have you ever prayed, “Lord, speak to my sister. I’m tired of doing all this work alone.” Martha did.

What was Mary doing? That lazy, good for nothing was sitting at the feet of Jesus, worshiping.  A waste of time?  The pragmatists among us seem to think so. This is the little informal society of activist church members who claim Martha as their patron saint.  (Matron saint? Whatever.)  To them, worship is something we do when the work is completed and we can’t find anything else to occupy us. Only then do they allow themselves the privilege of pausing to read the Scriptures and enjoy a quiet time of prayer.

“Lord, straighten him out.”

“Lord, rebuke her.”

Simon Peter grew tired of Jesus talking about what was ahead for him and pointed toward an apostle standing nearby.  “Lord, what about this man?”

Jesus said, “What is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:21-22).

I love knowing that Simon Peter was not above wanting to rearrange the lives of others; but appreciate even more the Lord’s answer. “What’s it to you?  Do your job!”

Anyone with brothers and sisters has probably had this very conversation with a parent.

There is a lot of this busy-bodyness going around.

I’m working hard where the Lord put me, but there are people in our church doing nothing. Lord, get ’em!

I’m giving my tithe and even sacrificing to give more, but some of these people are contributing little or nothing and getting a free ride.  If they’re not going to give, they’re sinning.  And if they’re not going to give, why should I?

I’m one of the few who show up for church visitation.  Why don’t others care as much as I do?  I may quit.

I wish God would straighten out everyone else.

Sound familiar?  It’s a popular sentiment, a common refrain, a deadly virus.

Stop it in its tracks, friend. Otherwise, it will destroy your witness, rob you of your joy, and result in the loss of the Father’s favor upon your life.

1) The busybody virus stops me from appreciating the wonderful work of other people.

Love rejoices in righteousness (I Corinthians 13:6).  We are commanded to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).  Busybodies are unable to pull that off, because they can always find fault with it.

2) The busybody virus makes me blind to my own inadequacies but endows me with 20/20 vision for the failures of others.

“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).  Busybodies can see some little things really well. Even without a telescope, they can spot someone sinning a mile away. Eagles envy them this skill.

3) The busybody virus stops Christian fellowship dead in its tracks.

Remember all those commands throughout Scripture to love one another, encourage one another, and rejoice with one another? (John 13:34-35 is a biggie.) The urge to criticize a brother and resent a sister for what they do or fail to do drives a stake through the heart of Christian fellowship.

Fellowship is all about love; busybodiness is all about competition and condemnation.

4) The busybody virus infects entire churches as well as individuals.

Why isn’t that church across town evangelizing more? giving more to missions? spending more time in the inner city the way our group does? Why do they baptize so few and spend so much money on buildings?

Our church is much better than those others.

Bite your tongue, saint of God.  “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4).

5) The busybody virus discourages the weak who are trying to find their way.

Suddenly, listening to your bellyaching, new believers and others young in the faith become intent on not crossing you lest they also become victims of your poisonous mouth.

6) Pastors infected by the busybody virus find the pulpit an ideal place to vent.

Urged by some with poor mental health to “preach on sin,” the weak pastor treats this as a license to criticize what others have been doing wrong and even call names from the pulpit. He ends up expounding on the length of women’s hair, tattoos and ear piercings, denims, beards, women’s fashions, and the social media.  (He’s “agin” it all, incidentally.)

7) The only known cure to the busybody virus is the presence of the love of God.

“The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

“For the fruit of the Spirit is love….gentleness, goodness….” (Galatians 5:22-23).

My love for the Lord Jesus Christ drives me to do the very things Mary was doing: sit at the feet of Jesus and worship Him.  Then, when I rise, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit, I find that everything inside me has changed. I am no longer critical and condemning of others. I no longer look around to see if others are as holy or as busy as I am in the Lord’s work.

The best parable, maybe ever, for Kingdom workers is found in only one place, Luke 17:7-10.

“But which of you having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat?’

(Rather) Will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink?’

He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?

So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'”

Such a humble spirit of servanthood forever ends the spirit of competition and criticism among the Lord’s people.

 

 

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