One of the first questions we tend to ask when we see someone that we haven’t seen for a while is this:

“So how are you?”

It’s admittedly sort of a perfunctory question, and so we shouldn’t be surprised when we get a perfunctory answer. Most of the time it’s something like this:

“Oh, fine. Fine.” But every once in a while, that “fine, fine” is followed up with another adjective that’s meant to sum up the general state of affairs in that person’s life. And more times than not, the next descriptor is this:

“You know… busy…”

And we are, aren’t we? We are busy with work. Busy with the kids. Busy with church. Busy with keeping up with our shows and listening to the podcast that we are supposed to listen to. We are a busy people. Even when we’re not really busy, we tend to think that we are, as if being busy is something to be proud of. As if it’s a mark of actual productivity and value.

Rarely will someone say the opposite:

“You know… lazy…”

Of course they wouldn’t, even if they are. Because if our measure of our worth and value is the packing of our calendars, then no one is going to own up to being lazy, because that is the very opposite of being a valuable and productive member of society. But what if busyness and laziness actually have more in common than we think they do? And what if being busy and being lazy are actually both the opposite of the way we are meant to live?

What, then, might busyness and laziness have in common when they seem to be such opposites? The answer is intentionality.

When you are busy, you are constantly running behind. Constantly shifting from this thing to that thing. Constantly in motion and always seeming like there are more tasks in the day than hours to complete them, and consequently, when you are busy you aren’t able to give the time and attention to the things you wish you could.

When you are lazy, you aren’t running behind; you aren’t running at all. Tasks, activities, and people just sort of pass you by, and you don’t take any initiative to go and engage them. So you sit and the world keeps spinning, and consequently, you don’t give the time and attention to the things that warrant it.

In both cases, whether we are busy or lazy, we are failing to move and act and give ourselves on purpose. And perhaps, then, intentionality is the antidote to both busyness and laziness. Consider this convicting verse found in Ephesians 5:15:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Nuance is everything in this passage. Depending on how you read these words, you can either find yourself emboldened or shrunken back. The hinge seems to be on the word “carefully”.

Since it’s in the context of walking, I think about how I go to check on my kids after bedtime. We live in an older house, and it seems like at night the wooden floors creak with every step. So I creep through the playroom down the hall – being very careful how I walk – to try and keep the creaks from waking them up. The thing about my walk in that instance is that it’s a defensive carefulness – I’m careful with every footfall, like I’m walking on egg shells, because I don’t want to step in the wrong place.

But I don’t think the verse above is meant to cause us to watch every footfall, our head swiveling back and forth and sweat beading up on our foreheads to make sure we don’t step wrongly. It’s true, that some of the Christian life demands that, that we are careful where we go, what we see, and what we do to make sure we are avoiding sin. And sin is everywhere, because, as the verse says, the days are evil.

In the context above, however, it seems to be more of an offensive carefulness that Paul wanted to inspire. We are to be careful in order to make the best use of time – literally, redeeming the time. When you redeem something, you trade it in for something better. You “buy back” the time you have been given to use for good. In that sense, our head is swiveling around, but it’s not fear that motivates it. It’s anticipation. We look in every direction to make sure we’re not missing any chance to do good by way of the gospel.

We live intentionally.

And that intentionality can be robbed by either busyness or laziness if we aren’t careful.