Whatever we do, God calls us to do it with excellence and with our whole heart (Col 3:23). It is a great blessing that we can glorify God in this way, even in our non-religious activities. However, sometimes the pursuit of excellence in these endeavors demands so much time that we have little left for God. This is often the case for us college students. We must balance many activities, always chase deadlines, and we often end up being overwhelmed and frustrated. This can make us wonder if God is understanding and accommodating during these periods. After all, he commands us to be excellent in all our work. Yet throughout Scripture, we find that he demands complete priority and devotion in our lives.
This leaves us with a real dilemma: How do we fulfill God’s command to strive for excellence in all our work while still making God our highest priority? Is it possible to obey both when they seem to conflict?
This dilemma affects people in all walks of life. The good news is that Jesus also faced this situation. How he approached it gives us a great example to follow.
When Jesus came to earth, he had a high stakes; it was a labor-intensive mission. He was sent to share his good news throughout Israel, to establish his church, to perform miracles, and to fulfill countless Old Testament prophecies.
In his story, we often overlook how exhausting and demanding his three years of ministry were. He had to walk from town to town with “no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20) while large crowds constantly sought him for teaching and healing. There was always more to do and more people to help. How could anyone take time away from such crucial and demanding work without neglecting those who traveled far to see him? Taking any time away from this work seems inconsiderate or uncaring to those people.
Yet we see throughout the gospels that Jesus would often withdraw to secluded places to pray, even when urgent needs remained. For example, Luke 5:15-16 says, “…Great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” In Mark 1:35, we read, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” This shows that Jesus chose communion with God over the constant demands of ministry.
Jesus set a clear example that prioritizing time with God is necessary, not neglectful. Jesus made this point in his response to Martha as well. When Martha criticized Mary for listening to Jesus instead of helping with work, Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41).
Jesus understood that spiritual nourishment from God fueled his ministry. Even as he stepped away from active work, by the end of his mission, he was able to say, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). At the end of his time on earth, He accomplished more than 300 Old Testament prophecies.
From this, we see that prioritizing time with God is always the right choice, even when it feels counterintuitive. In our walk with Christ, we are often called to go against what’s intuitive. We are called to rely on God and surrender our efforts to him. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God says to Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” Matthew 6:33 encourages us: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
During difficult, busy college seasons that demand all our time, energy, and attention, we worry about how to balance our work with our relationship with God. We can have confidence in prioritizing time with him and in trusting him to lead and guide us toward excellence.
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