“If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy” – Corrie Ten Boom
How many times do people ask us how our week went and we reply with the word “busy”? How often do we ask ourselves where the day went or can’t recall what we did just a few days ago because of the amount of hurry in our lives?
In John Mark Comer’s book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, he talks about the harm this “business” has on our lives, especially our spiritual lives. He describes hurry as “violence to the soul” and the antithesis of God’s love, peace, and joy. He also describes why we should “walk” with God rather than “run.”
Matt Chandler, in his sermon on busyness and rest, talks about how it is our culture to stress and plan around the urgent rather than the important. A minor emergency at work, the need to be caught up in the latest entertainment fad, or the need for productivity. While all these to-dos can be urgent and time-sensitive, are they eternally important? We are constantly checking off our task list and measuring how our day went by how productive we were able to be rather than the time spent on eternal success.
So how do we combat this hurry in our lives and spend time on important things rather than the urgent and often non-important things?
Well, I sure don’t have it figured out yet, but here are a few steps that have helped me approach my time differently.
- Study the lifestyle of Jesus. He is the ultimate example of having an important eternal mission, yet doing so with peace, prayer, and acting in the present moment. Jesus was constantly leaving the crowd and disciples to seek solitude and silence with His father. He was willing to be interrupted. Study and observe his speed of life, habits, and priorities.
- Realize your limitations. We are not able to be in multiple places at once. Our humanness has its limitations and we simply are not God. Our bodies need sleep, our soul needs to be in the Word of God, we have a limited emotional capacity, and we have godly duties as wives, husbands, parents, and friends. Realizing our limitations can often help us to slow down.
- How are you currently spending your time? Make a list of what you did last week and decide with the Spirit whether these things were causing more hurry or whether they were truly eternally important. Are you doing the things that God has called you to do? Or are you allowing people to dictate how you spend your time based on what they think is urgent to accomplish a human agenda?
- Be still. Take moments of your day to pause. Leave more space for prayer and thoughts to arise rather than just the time you have in the shower. Say “no” once in a while. Be okay with just sitting.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Jesus
-Written by Hannah Deubel, alumna of Colorado State University
2 comments
Great article! Thank you so much for sharing. I have noticed that as life seasons have brought many changes, it beckons that we too change. Finding time and creating pause was so much different as a single person than as a married person. Then finding pause with a new child creates another very different space to maneuver… and then add more children. The value of discipleship, both our sitting at Jesus’ feet, and our going and spending time discipling others is a constant. However, I love your first point. For even Jesus, with the eternal mission on His shoulders, took significant moments away from those He was leading to be lead by the One who gave Him that very mission; His Father. To seek to understand His pace and the priorities that He established (even when the crowds were beckoning Him or seeking Him out), He was never moved by demand, but by His priorities. Such a powerful truth! I haven’t mastered it by any means, but I know it is key to true freedom in being present & empowered with His Presence.
Thank you, Hannah.