The problem with multi-tasking

“As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” 1 Kings 20:40

 

This verse is taken from a story about a guard who allowed himself to get too busy to watch his prisoner, and his prisoner escaped. That was his reply to the King over it. This poor guard made the mistake of trying to do too many things at once, or overly multi-tasking, and it cost him his prisoner. Before we discuss where the guard’s failure came from, lets quickly go over where it DIDN’T come from.

 

1- His failure was not due to ignorance.

 

We have to draw the conclusion that if this particular guard, out of all of the King’s guards, was chosen to keep this prized prisoner, then he must know the job very well.

 

2- His failure was not due to inability.

 

He had to be viewed as an able man, by his superiors to be presented to the King for this assignment.

 

3- His failure was not from idleness or laziness.

 

He had obviously worked his way up through the ranks to earn the posistion of guard, instead of cook, janitor, etc.

 

So where did his failure to contain his prisoner come from? In his own words, he was too busy! He, instead of focusing on his task, focused on working on multiple things. He was busy “here and there”. Ladies, have you ever been cooking dinner, while doing laundry, catching up on the days TV, going over papers for tomorrow’s meeting, feeding dogs, and maybe even changing a diaper or two while trying to feed the same kid, at the same time, and burned dinner? Guys, have you ever planned a day around work at home? Cutting grass, taking our the garbage, checking the mail, washing the vehicles, bathing the dogs, and mailing out the mortgage, and failed to mail that check, forgot about it, left it in your truck, until a few weeks go by and the bank calls? Then you realize that it’s in your console?

 

Both of those stories come from personal, or familial experiences. A wise man once said, that when you multi-task, you might be able to do all of your tasks “good”, but not one of those tasks will be done “greatly”. The sin, that scares me about many people, is not a sin of vicious evil-doing. It is the same as this guard in our story, simply being too busy to do your best, and only choosing the second best.

 

Second best, could be “living a good life, and being a good person”. As opposed to “living a godly life, and being a godly person”. An old pastor once said “being a good person, is only a side-effect, and if that is as far as you take your faith in God, you will be one of those millions and millions of ‘good people’ in Hell”.

 

It is not enough to live a good life. But it is enough, to live a faithful and godly one. That starts from accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. It comes from admitting to God that you are a sinner, in need of a savior. You can do that, if you haven’t by clicking HERE.

 

Those of us who have already made that decision should take from this message, the note on multi-tasking. The “go-home” of this message is essentially the one quote from above: “when you multi-task, you might be able to do all of your tasks “good”, but not one of those tasks will be done “greatly”.

 

God Bless,

 

Chris