How often have you heard that said? How often have you said it? No time to think; no time to help a friend or my neighbour; no time to go to church - to read the Bible - to get into contact with God - no time to bother about my soul!

What does fill your time and your mind? Your work, your studies, sport, music, television - surfing the internet? With your mind so full, even overloaded with so many things, what is it that hinders your from pausing to think, to meditate on eternal issues?

The proverb suggests: ‘The Devil finds work for idle hands to do’.

But it might be nearer the mark to suggest that it is the Devil who works hard to keep our minds preoccupied, so that we have no time to set our thoughts on what we might call ‘higher things’.

OK - pause a moment to think about this. Jesus Christ had one of the busiest schedules imaginable. In three years he had to present a whole teaching programme, train a group of people to take over from him with a commission to spread his message to the known world - and he had to prepare himself for execution by crucifixion in order to bring forgiveness of sin to all who sincerely seek God.

Despite this demanding programme, Jesus made time to spend with God. He stopped to restore sight to a blind beggar who called to him - to heal an elderly woman of chronic haemorrhage - to raise a 12 year old girl from death - to restore a paralytic dragged into the middle of a teaching session - to feed 5,000 hungry people - and so on, and so on.