Performance driven Christians live in a continual state of anxiety and fear. How? By hurrying. We have so 
much to accomplish so God is pleased with us we push the accelerator to the floor. We live by the lie that busyness equals importance…that my accomplishments create my identity and my value to God lies in my usefulness.
I learned the hard way the destructiveness of busyness. Here are three lessons living at warp speed taught me. I have more I will share later.
- Busyness is the enemy of my soul. Lance Witt says, “You can’t live life at warp speed without warping your soul.” Not only do I desperately need time with God, Jesus wants time with me. He tells me he no longer knows me as his servant, but as his friend. He has made a fire on the beach and wants me to come sit with him (John 21), and just “Be still and know I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
- Busyness is the enemy of friendship. Hurry always hurts relationships. Always. Hurry is a “Hi,
how are you” without stopping where you are going. Hurry is texting while listening. Hurry is scheduling five minutes between appointments. It’s not building in a buffer to have time for people. It creates resentment. It demeans and hurts. Hurry believes there is no meaning in the present, only in the next thing I have to do for God.
- Busyness is the enemy of love. A common closing blessing in many churches is taken from Numbers 6:26, “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” This means he takes time to stop and look right at us…full in the face. He takes time to pay attention…to our joys, our hurts, our concerns, our anxieties. In His stopping we know we are important – we are loved…and in His stopping we find peace.
“God takes the time to do everything right – everything” (Isaiah 30:18, The Message). May we do the same.
QUESTION: Where do you need to slow down? How will you do that? Is there someone you need to turn your face toward?
ACTIONS: Become a part of our blog family and become a subscriber – it will help you slow down. Then share this with a busy friend.
NEW! Starting this coming Monday, visit my “Monday Quotes” page. I’ll share with you the best of the best quotes I have journaled over the years that help me live in the freedom of the gospel and that I regularly take time to review.
Hi Bill!
So true! So true! Sometimes difficult to put in practice for Type A’s! Blessings to you both!
Mary Lee! As a type A myself I was writing to myself! I need to remember that the needs of the ministry are always larger than my capacity.
There is an ever accelerating world of business that overtly does measure ones worth to the firm by not only how much is accomplished toward goals but by how quickly. The motto of “make your quota or else” has been augmented by “faster, faster, accelerate, accellerate”, “better is 95 cents today that a dollar tomorrow”, etc. So God is a refuge and worth as his child is a grounding. Can you blog a bit about our response to pressure from the measures by the yardstick of results and speed that are being placed in the work world?
Hi Steve!
It’s on the list!! Trust you folks are well. See ya in April.