When Busyness Crowds Out Connection

In this important episode, Sean talks about the danger of allowing busyness to drown out our intimacy with God. This was a warning shared with him by a mentor of his, and now he is sharing this important message with us!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning everybody. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
December the twenty first, or only four days until Christmas.
It's so exciting. Welcome to another brand new, life changing
edition of the ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO. I

(00:33):
am so excited to be with you guys today. I love, love,
love this time of the year. Last week was a
very fun week in the office all week long. We
did have our if you'll remember, I recorded our episode
a little bit early last week because we were in

(00:55):
Sea Island, Georgia with dop Capital, so that super fun
over the weekend, and then got back into town on
Sunday and we had our ugly sweater contest at the bank.
We had our Dirty Santa battle over gifts at the bank,
had a super fun new employee orientation, get to meet

(01:18):
a bunch of our new team. Had the DLP Bank
Board meeting our bank in Florida on Wednesday, the Regent
Bank Board meeting on Thursday, and on Friday, had a
real productive day, but had a meeting with my friend
Pastor rich Out at Harvest Church and Broken Arrow and

(01:40):
he said something which inspired today's message. So we were
kind of praying through some things, and he's just an
amazing spiritual advisor and counselor to me. And I was
telling him about all the things going on in my
life and he said, hey, just remember that during the

(02:01):
busiest seasons of your life, they can also be the
driest season spiritually. And I want you to think about
this question. Have you ever had a season of life
where everything was going well but you weren't. Like on paper,
it looked amazing. Business was moving, family was healthy, calendar

(02:23):
was full, there was momentum everywhere, But spirituality, it felt
like God had gone oddly quiet, not angry, not absent,
just distant. And I remember one season when someone asked me,
how's your time with the Lord? And without thinking, I said, oh,

(02:44):
it's good. We talk all the time, which is what
you don't what you say when you don't want to
answer the question. That's a spiritual equivalent of saying yeah,
we're fine when everyone knows you're not fine. So I
decided to track my time for a week, every meeting,
every call, every workout, every scroll, And at the end

(03:07):
of the week I realize something disturbing. I had scheduled
time to answer email, prepare messages, lead people manage money,
build vision. But the only unscheduled relationship in my life
was the most important one. God had become assumed and
not pursued. And here's the crazy part. I wasn't sinning.

(03:30):
I was succeeding. And that's when it hit me that
success can quietly replace intimacy with God if we're not
paying attention. And that's why this matters, because nobody plans
to drift from God. They just get busy. And when
I read Scripture, I realize I'm not alone. One of

(03:52):
the greatest leaders, worshipers, and kings in the Bible, a
man after God's own heart, lost intimacy with God, not
because rebellion, but because of distraction. In his name was David,
And if it can happen to David, it can happen
to any of us. David didn't start with activity, okay,

(04:14):
he started with intimacy. And I want us to think
about what happens when we get too busy for God.
I don't ever mean to drift from God. I don't
wake up in the morning and say, hey, today feels
like a great day to neglect my prayer life. Nobody does.
It just happens life fills up, calendars, fill up, phones,

(04:37):
light up, meeting stack up, and one day we look
up and realize we still believe in God, but we're
no longer close to him. We're faithful but distant, committed
but dry, busy but not intimate. Someone once said, if
Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. And
that's not because busyness is sinful, but because busyness crowds

(05:01):
out intimacy. Today, I want to talk about how we
can get so busy, even doing good things, that we
slowly lose our intimacy with God. And to do that,
as I mentioned earlier, I want to reflect on a
man after God's own heart, a warrior, a king, a worshiper,
and yes, someone who got distracted by banking, building, managing

(05:26):
and success. And his name is David. Before David was
a king, he was a shepherd. No palace, no payroll,
no spreadsheets, just sheep and God. Psalm twenty seven four says,
one thing I ask from the Lord. This only do
I seek, that I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life. Notice the

(05:47):
phrase one thing. David didn't start his life with a
long spiritual checklist. He had one obsession, and that was
God's presence. That's why he could say in Psalm twenty three,
the Lord is my shepherd. He didn't learn intimacy in
the palace. He learned it in quiet places when no
one was watching. Before David ever let Israel, he learned

(06:09):
how to lead his own heart. And here's our first
big takeaway. Intimacy with God is usually formed in seasons
that feel unproductive. We tend to despise quiet seasons. God
uses them to shape us. Now fast forward, David becomes king.
He unites Israel, he defeats enemies, he builds wealth, he

(06:31):
organizes armies. In modern terms, David is scaling the organization,
expanding the kingdom, managing national security, overseeing treasury and banking systems.
Second Samuel eight says, the Lord gave David victory wherever
he went. That's a dangerous verse because success has a
way of whispering. You must be doing everything right. But

(06:54):
here's what scripture subtly shows us. David's responsibilities increased, but
his intimacy routines didn't keep pace, and eventually busyness replaced attentiveness.
Tewod Samuel eleven opens with a haunting line. In the spring,
at the time when kings go off to war, David

(07:16):
remained in Jerusalem. David wasn't where he was supposed to be.
He wasn't praying, he wasn't worshiping, he wasn't leading. He
was idle. And idle isn't always lazy. Sometimes idle just
means disconnected. That's when he noticed what he shouldn't have noticed.
He desires. He desired what he shouldn't have desired. He

(07:39):
did what he swore he would never do. The loss
of intimacy always comes before a loss of integrity. Nobody
falls overnight. They drift first. Here's the tricky part. David
wasn't rejecting God. He was still king for God, still
ruling for God, still successful for God. But he stopped

(08:02):
being with God. And that happens to us all the time.
We're busy serving, leading, providing, building, but not abiding. Jesus
said it plainly in John fifteen five. Apart from me,
you can do nothing. Notice he didn't say without me,
you can't do anything impressive. He said nothing that lasts.

(08:25):
So let's bring this home. The successful professional. You pray less,
not because you don't care, but because meetings suddenly replaced mornings.
Example two is the parent You disciple everyone else, but
your own soul runs on fumes. Example three is the leader.

(08:46):
You're preparing messages about God, but forgetting to sit with God.
Someone once said, you can be so busy working for
God that you forget to walk with God. Ouch soft.
David's repentance prayer reveals what he lost. He didn't say, God,
give me my kingdom back. He said, restore me the

(09:09):
joy of your salvation. Joy leaves when intimacy leaves, and
God responds not with rejection, but with mercy. That's the
good news. God is not intimidated by our drift. He
is inviting us back. James four eight says, draw near
to God, and he will draw near to you. Not

(09:29):
fix yourself, not do better, just come closer. So here
are three practical ways to guard intimacy in a busy life,
and I am taking notes of these as I read
them to you. Number one, schedule God like you schedule
everything else. If it matters, it gets time. Matthew six

(09:50):
point thirty three. Seek first the kingdom of God, not second,
not after email first. Number two protect quiet, not just
product toivity. Silence is not wasted time, it's sacred space.
So I'm forty six ten says be still and know
that I am God Number three. Measure success by closeness,

(10:13):
not output. The question isn't how much did I do?
It's how close am I to him? So in conclusion,
let's come back to the field. David lost intimacy in
the palace, but he found restoration on his knees. And
the same God who met him in the field is
waiting for us there too, not asking for perfection, just presence.

(10:39):
Not impressed by busyness, he is delighted by closeness. And
let me closed with this quote. The greatest danger to
our spiritual life is not sin, it's distraction. So today
maybe the prayer isn't God give me more time. Maybe
it's God, help me choose you again. Intimacy always begins

(11:02):
with one step back toward him. Please bow with me today,
Dear heavenly Father, Please forgive us for being busy with everything,
but you forgive me for being busy with everything, But
you teach us again how to set at your feet,
how to listen, how to delight in your presence, how
to restore your joy, how to restore our closeness and

(11:27):
help us keep first things first, particularly during this very
very busy season of the year. Father, we love you,
and we thank you in Jesus' name a man and
I want to thank you all so much for joining
this edition of the ninety four ex Kingdom Driven CEO.
And I want to wish you a very very very

(11:49):
merry Christmas. Oh