No So Fast There, My Friends!

With the arrival of spring, many of us are emerging from our wintry ‘hibernation’ and venturing out for travel, favorite warm-weather pastimes, gardening, following our children’s or grandchildren’s sports, or just enjoying a walk in the sun. After months of relative inactivity, we’re ready to hit the fast-forward button for a frenzy of activity.

That’s great, and for the outdoorsy types, it’s about time, right? Hiking, boating, swimming, golf, tennis, pickleball, ATV riding, paddleboarding, or whatever your favorite pursuit may be – you’ve got the green light! But first, a word or two of caution.

 

In our haste to ‘grab all the gusto’ (to recall an old TV commercial), we can race right past the important in our pursuit for the interesting and entertaining. Charles Hummel wrote about this in his little book, The Tyranny of the Urgent. In it he talked about our many unfinished tasks, unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and other things not done. Wouldn’t a 30-hour day be nice?

 

In actuality, adding more hours to the day probably wouldn’t make much difference. Without proper priorities to help us manage the clamor that surrounds us, the urgent ‘urgencies’ of the moment always tend to squeeze out the truly important. We’d just find more things to try to get done, more interruptions, no matter how many additional hours we could add to the span of a single day.

 

Recognizing this problem, decades ago a fellow named Wilferd Arlan Peterson wrote a poem called “Slow Me Down, Lord.” Here are excerpts from it:

“Slow me down, Lord.

Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time…

 

Teach me the art of taking minute vacations – of slowing down to look at a flower,

To chat with a friend, 

To pat a dog, 

To read a few lines from a good book.

 

Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, 

That I may know that the race is not always to the swift – 

That there is more to life than increasing its speed….”

 

What a thought: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” No one was more aware of this than the Lord Jesus Christ, whose “to-do” list eclipsed any that we could ever compile. He healed the sick and crippled, gave sight to the blind, cast out demons, raised the dead, calmed storms, fed the hungry, ministered to the poor, and most important, preached God’s message of redemption and reconciliation to small crowds and multitudes. All within the brief span of three years.

 

Despite the incessant demands on His time, Jesus always found the necessary time to rest, whether in a storm-tossed boat (Mark 4:37-38), a quiet place with His disciples (John 6:31), or the wilderness by Himself (Matthew 14:13). Even God incarnate became weary as a man. His earthly ministry was relatively short, but Jesus did not ignore the need for rest.

 

Psalm 23, well-known as ‘the shepherd’s psalm,’ pictures a flock of sheep under the protective care of their shepherd, helping us to recognize God as our own Shepherd. It says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me besides quiet waters, He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2-3). Sheep, a skittish, nervous lot, do poorly under stress, so their shepherd must ensure they find places for sufficient rest. We’re not as different from wooly sheep as we might believe.

 

This is why rest is emphasized throughout the Scriptures. Isaiah 40:31 assures us, “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not become faint.” No matter what season we’re in, the demands and pressures surrounding us can quickly wear us down if we’re not careful. Hence our need, as the poem suggests, to pray, “Slow me down, Lord.”

 

Wherever He went, Jesus found throngs of troubled, weighed-down people. In giving His message of hope, both for the present and for eternity, the Lord offered this promise: “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” (Matthew 11:28-29).

 

So, as you embark on your race for fun and frolic, don’t forget to take a rest. Rest in the Lord.

Don’t Get Defeated by Distractions

Have you ever been playing with a dog, maybe throwing a ball for it to fetch – it chases after the ball, but then stops because something else has caught its eye? Or maybe you’re playing tug-of-war with it – the pup holds the toy in its teeth with an iron grip, until you distract it somehow so it loosens its grip and you can pull the toy away?

Many words that could describe our society these days, but that word immediately comes to my mind: Distracted. 

 

We’re got smartphones that seem to beg for our attention; we’re texting, sharing photos, or checking to make sure we haven’t missed something on social media. We go out to dinner and rather than enjoying conversations with our family members or friends, we sit there staring at our phones. I admit, sometimes guilty as charged. 

 

Then we’ve got our computers. When we’re not using them for work, we can access email and explore the unlimited treasures of the Internet. If we get bored with those, we can always resort to the longtime favorite – TV – which can effectively anesthetize our minds if we let it.

 

But there are other ways of getting distracted. Job demands can monopolize our concentration, drawing us away from cultivating and strengthening important relationships. Hobbies and pastimes are good, but they sometimes pull us away from responsibilities that need to be addressed.

 

Years ago, Charles Hummel wrote a little book called The Tyranny of the Urgent, in which he succinctly explains how the seemingly “urgent” can lure us away from what’s really important – and life seems to always present something urgent that needs our attention. While we’re busy with “urgent” things, more important matters get ignored.

 

I’ve read through Oswald Chambers’ excellent devotional book a number of times, and one phrase that always resonates is “good is the enemy of the best.” That’s often been helpful for me in evaluating various opportunities or choosing whether to take on one more activity. Is it something I really should do, or is it just a good thing that will take time away from doing what’s best?

 

Distractions can pose a real problem for our spiritual growth as well. Writing to his protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul warned him about the dangers of becoming distracted: 

“Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:3-5).

 

The book of Hebrews also speaks to the matter of distractions, or as it terms it, “drifting.” After reminding readers about their foundation of faith in Jesus Christ – “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3) – the author issues a warning: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away…how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3).

 

This problem arises repeatedly in the Scriptures, strong and committed believers becoming distracted by various concerns and beginning to drift away from the faith they have held so dear. We see it with Abram, Isaac, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and others in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, even the disciples drifted away for a time. One of them, Judas Iscariot, never returned.

 

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul gives this sad pronouncement about a man of whom he had spoken highly in another of his letters: “Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10). Can you imagine something like that being written about you?

 

So, the problem of drifting, becoming distracted by other things – even good ones – isn’t anything new. But it’s no less a danger for those of us who follow Christ in the 21^st century. As someone expressed Chambers’ sentiments in a similar manner, “a good thing, when it becomes the main thing, becomes a bad thing.”

It wouldn’t hurt to stop from time to time and assess whether we’re letting this happen to ourselves. Is my devotion to my Lord being diminished by allowing other things, even good things, become my primary focus? Am I living the victorious life in Christ that I’ve been promised, or am I unwittingly being defeated by distractions? Only through prayer and an open, humble heart can we answer that honestly. 

The Curse of Not Living in the Moment

Maybe it’s the nature of a writer, requiring intense concentration to properly tackle the task at hand – whether it be an article, a book, or even an email. But when I’m “in the zone,” anything that interrupts my train of thought can be as disconcerting as having your car bumped from behind while sitting at a traffic light.

If my wife walks into my office to ask a question, or the grandkids stop by unexpectedly, I’m torn. I want to spend time with them, but there’s this “train” chugging along in my mind and I dare not let it get derailed.

I used to think I was alone in this, that it was just inherent selfishness and preoccupation with literary mission that caused me to often regard disruptions as inconveniences, rather than pleasant surprises. Then I read an entry in Philip Yancey’s excellent devotional book, Grace Notes, that confirmed this inclination isn’t unique to me.

Yancey wrote, “I tend to approach life as a sequence rather than as a series of moments. I schedule my time, set goals, and march onward toward their achievement. Phone calls, or any unscheduled event, I view as a jarring interruption. How different from the style of Jesus, who often let other people – interruptions – determine his daily schedule.”

Of course, you don’t have to be a writer to feel this way. All kinds of people feel annoyed when someone breaks their concentration. Heck, lots of folks hate being disturbed while watching TV, reading a book, or playing a video game on their smartphone.

Contrast that, as did Yancey, to “the style of Jesus,” whom we often see having His plans disrupted by individuals and by crowds. And without complaining at all. 

We see this early in each of the gospel accounts of His life. Matthew 4:24 tells us, “News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyze, and he healed them. Large crowd…followed him.”

Mark 1:40-41 recounts when “A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.”

In neither case, or in the many other similar “unscheduled” encounters Jesus had during His earthly ministry, did He said, “Oh, man! What’s up with these people? Don’t they know I’m busy, that I’ve got more pressing things to do?” No, because as Yancey wrote, that wasn’t Jesus’ “style.” He perfectly mastered the distinction between the important and the merely urgent.

Sometimes I wonder how many opportunities I’ve ignored or missed out on, simply because I wasn’t willing to let others impose on or even reset my agenda for the moment. The Scriptures talk about “redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). In other words, unlike money or other material possessions, we can’t acquire more of it. Once time is gone, it’s gone, never to be redeemed.

The refrain from the old hit song, recorded by Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson and many others, comes to mind: “Ain’t it funny how time slips away.” 

Speaking of which, a couple of our grandkids just arrived for a visit. Guess this would be a good time to take a break. See ya later!

Rebelling Against the Tyranny of the Urgent

Living in a culture of instant gratification, many of us march to the mindset, “Gotta have it – and gotta have it now!” There are advantages to this; Walking into a fast-food restaurant and not having to wait; being able to quickly find virtually anything on the Internet; being able to communicate to others without delay, whether by phone, text or instant message.

But as with many advantages in life, instant living has drawbacks. One of them is the increasing inability to distinguish the urgent from the truly important.

Days can fly by as urgent demands
crowd out important matters.

Years ago, Charles E. Hummel wrote an engaging little booklet, The Tyranny of the Urgent. He stated, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” This seemed cryptic the first time I read it. Aren’t urgent things always important?

For instance, if you get a call from your boss instructing you to do something immediately, isn’t that important? If your smartphone rings while you’re with loved ones or close friends, shouldn’t you check to see who’s calling?

As I pondered Hummel’s statement, however, I began to realize that indeed, urgent things are not always important – and important things aren’t always urgent. The challenge is learning to distinguish between the two, and then responding appropriately.

Another Hummel observation provided clarification: “There is an insidious tendency to neglect important tasks that do not have to be done today – or even this week.” At first glance this seems a tad confusing. If things don’t have to be done today, or this week, doesn’t that indicate they’re not all that important?

Once again, after a bit of thought, we start to understand what he meant. Sometimes urgent things also are important – if someone’s having a heart attack, they need immediate treatment. If there’s a fire, we must try to put it out. Or call 911. But if a friend asks us for a favor, that doesn’t mean we must drop everything to comply right then.

Many children’s trust has been shattered by promises repeatedly broken by parents because something “urgent” always seems to arise at the last minute. Or intended meetings with friends never happen because the “urgent” keeps snatching time from our schedules.

Having spent much of my working career reacting to deadlines, I know how easily the urgent can crowd out the important. Even now, I wrestle with the conflict between longer-term writing projects and more immediate, short-term tasks that “need” to be completed first.

In the Scriptures, we see an example of “urgent vs. important” in the lives of sisters Mary and Martha. The gospel of Luke gives a quick synopsis:

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:38-41).

At first glance, it’s easy to side with Martha. There’s a meal to prepare. Things to be done. Martha was slaving away, while her sister was “chilling,” listening to what Jesus had to say. But as He often did, Jesus was using this for a teachable moment. The preparations preoccupying Martha’s attention could wait a few minutes. Time with Jesus, however, was a priceless moment that couldn’t be recaptured later.

Seems to me this “tyranny of the urgent” impedes our ability to establish and maintain a close, intimate walk with God. Hummel also wrote about this in his booklet: “But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency – independence from the rule of God. When we fail to wait prayerfully for God’s guidance and strength, we are saying with our actions, if not with our words, that we do not need him. How much of our service is actually a ‘going it alone’?” 

Psalm 37:7 admonishes, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” This “resting” and “waiting” run counter to the instincts of our instant world, worshiping at the altar of the urgent. But if we’re to truly become all the Lord intends for us to be, we’ve got to discover how not to sacrifice the important on that altar. 

Like Mary and Martha, we need to discern what’s really needed – the better of two or more options. Is it really important, or is it just urgent?