I know I am going to sound like an old codger reminiscing about the good ole days. I am willing to run that risk to address what I think is a very important matter. The fast pace of our Western lifestyle is counter-productive to almost every aspect of our lives. And yet, like the hamster on the wheel in the cage, we just keep running in the same direction, all the while going
nowhere.
There is an interesting episode of The Andy Griffith Show (you knew it was coming), entitled “The Sermon for Today.” It seems
Reverend Tucker of The All Souls Church in Mayberry has invited a guest speaker from New York City to speak named Reverend Harrison Everett Breen. Anytime someone has three names, they must really be important. ☺️ And he was because he had authored a book. Reverend Breen chose his sermon topic that day to be “What’s Your Hurry?” And he proceeded to tell how we run from one place to another so we can hurriedly run to another place.
I have always thought this was an interesting sermon topic to bring to the sleepy little hamlet of 1800 residents in Mayberry. Nevertheless, the aim of the message meets us squarely where we live today. Technology, and especially the Internet, has certainly sped up our lifestyles. It is too often that we find ourselves, as Reverend Breen pointed out, running to the next engagement so we can then hustle to the next one. I wonder how I can ever be sensitive to the voice and direction of God when I am allowing my calendar to dictate my lifestyle.
Now, I am not suggesting that we should crawl inside a cocoon and pretend the world does not exist. That is escapism and just as bad as traveling at the speed of life. I am suggesting we have the ability to govern our lives by saying “no” to some things.
Several years ago, I found myself traveling at this speed of life we are talking about; going to every meeting I was invited; serving on every board I was asked to join, and so forth. Somewhere along the way, I gained the courage and fortitude to begin to say “no” to a lot of the directions in which I was being tugged. Almost all of the meetings and obligations I began to say “no” to were really good organizations doing really good things. The meetings I declined to attend were really good meetings involving some really good folks with great things to say. I just decided that I didn’t have to do them all, no matter how good the cause or opportunity.
After a grueling and demanding time of ministry, Jesus said to His disciples,
“Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place (secluded or remote) and rest awhile.”
This was due to the crowds tugging at them – to the point where they didn’t even have time to eat. So Jesus came to a place where He said this was enough for now – and it was time for the quiet place to rest awhile. The word used in the original text for “rest” is one that means “ to cause someone to gain relief, refreshment, or intermission from toil.” Our English word “recreate” means in essence the same thing. That we should step aside and “recreate” or “refresh” at times. Thus, recreation becomes a vehicle by which we can slow our roll and allow our lives to not be controlled by the hurried pace of the world around us.
I must say that this is not an easy mountain to climb, because much like Jesus and His disciples, there are voices and people who are always tugging at us to go there, come here, and do that. But we must realize that to commune with God and to be able to respond to that still, small whisper of the Holy Spirit, we cannot be going Helter skelter about our life from one hurried engagement to another. Through the psalmist (the sons of Korah) God the Father calls out to us,
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
If we are being governed by a quantitative goal of doing as many things and seeing as many people as we can, we will be unable to be still. We must find a grace from God to be able to slow down, get off to ourselves and recreate or refresh ourselves.
This doesn’t mean that we should hide away with drawn shades and “hermitize” ourselves (to quote Ernest T. Bass), but that the frantic pace we are enticed to adopt in our modern culture is just not good for us, our health, our ability to have clarity, and draw close to God. Remember that God will not compete with outside distractions and influences and He requires our undivided attention. He said in more than one place that if we will seek Him with all our heart, then He will be found by us. Inherent in this statement is not an indication that God is playing hide and seek with us until we meet certain conditions. What He is saying is that if we can lay aside all the distractions, hindrances, and personal preoccupations to seek Him singularly and purposefully, then we will find out He has been there all the time. It is like the brother of our Lord, James, wrote in his letter.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Traveling at the speed of life will certainly hinder, if not prevent our slowing down long enough to seek God’s face.
I am reminded of Isaiah chapter 40 where the prophet writes,
…those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength…”
The word in the Hebrew doesn’t just transmit the thought of waiting, but it actually communicates the idea of waiting eagerly for the Lord. To wait eagerly for the Lord requires our choosing to trust Him, no matter what. John Oswalt (Old Testament professor at Asbury Seminary) said this speaks of “ complete dependence on God and a willingness to allow Him to decide the terms.” We are reminded that patience in God renews our energy. This verse encourages us to wait on the Lord instead of rushing, reminding us that true strength comes from relying on Him. The psalmist (David) almost quotes the sons of Korah when he writes,
Psalm 37:7 – “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”
We must embrace moments of waiting, allowing God’s timing to play out in His way and providence. This cannot happen if we are occasionally coming up for air in the midst of a lifestyle that has no margin for resting, hearing, and meditating. The breathed-out Scriptures (by God the Father) should be breathed in by Christ’s followers, and to do that requires a pace that is determined by the word of God, not by the unjustified feeling of obligation to go everywhere and do everything…and that is just today!
I have a bumper sticker on my truck that reads –
Make America Mayberry Again
I realize this is a little bit of an unreal expectation. We cannot return to the simpler, slower lifestyle of yesteryear. To pine away for “the good ole days” is a waste of pining. But to expect that it is possible for us to not become consumed by the spirit of the age, which attempts to gobble us up in the envelope of frantic and unceasing activity is certainly not out of the realm of possibility. And we must face the fact that sometimes schedules dictate that we have a crowded day or week and we have to move a little quicker to get it all done. But to perpetually travel at the speed of life is not conducive to a healthy walk and life with Jesus Christ as our Lord.
What must we do to be saved from the hamster wheel? I think we must start with total and unreserved trust in the Lord. It is our lack of faith that tells us if we don’t get it done, it isn’t going to get done. The whole world is going to suffer if I don’t hurry through life touching as many things and people as I can. We need to take a breath and leave room for the Holy Spirit to do something. We must trust God enough to believe all He wants from us is simple obedience to His will and Word, and He is big enough to take care of what we have not been called to engage with. We also must trust that what God has had us lay our hands to is anointed and blessed by the gift Giver. Sometimes when we don’t see immediate visible results of our work, we fall into the trap of trying to work more, work faster, hurry up and help God. I can assure you that while God wants your feet on the ground as His foot soldiers, He doesn’t have need of you, in the sense of without us He wouldn’t be complete. This is just simply untrue. Maybe, to quote the book title by J.B. Phillips, “Your God Is Too Small.” Trust Him, because there is no one else you can trust without hesitation.
Another thing that we can do is to visit our priorities and determine if we have them out of whack and skewed. Do you even have priorities in your life? Not everything that we believe we must run to and address immediately is necessary. Maybe busyness keeps us so occupied we don’t have time to even think about what it is that we need to be doing and what it is that is not something that we must sacrifice family and personal time for. Regardless, we must determine what is a priority in our lives and order those things accordingly. We do so by making sure we do not feel compelled to take on our list as well as somebody else’s.
Many years ago I met a man named Jerry Linhares. We became good friends for many years, until he went to heaven in 2021. At that retreat where I first heard Jerry speak (1975), Jerry spoke on prioritizing our lives and I still have the notes he handed out that day. He taught us that we should order our lives thusly.
God
Family
Job
Ministry
I thought it was an interesting insight to order our vocation above our ministry. I would recommend we all take an inventory of our lives and reconcile them against this suggested ordering of our schedules. If in fact we order our life according to what we determine as a priority, we will find there are some things we can lay aside and leave for someone else to do. Yes! God does have other servants…😊 And then, as I have suggested earlier, we must become acquainted with this little, but powerful word – “no.” I have ceased feeling guilty when I tell someone, no I cannot attend that meeting. Or, no, I would not have the margin in my life to serve on your board. That may sound cold, but it is not intended to. But it is intended to communicate that I am not going to perpetually travel at the speed of life. There are so many hours in the day; days in the week; and weeks in the year. We cannot allow outside demands and influences to guilt us into running ourselves ragged from one place of busyness to another.
I will repeat this is easier said than done, but the goal must be to slow down our lifestyle enough that we can seek the Lord and hear His voice when He speaks to us – through whatever means. And from time to time we must remember the Sabbath principle. Jesus said the man was not created for the Sabbath, but rather the Sabbath was created for mankind. I have written about this and it can be found in Volume 10 of The Kernels of Truth Book. Simply put, God rested on the seventh day and He calls us to do the same. The human body is not built by its Maker to work seven days, but to find a time and a place where you can, to quote Jesus again,
“Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place (secluded or remote) and rest awhile.”
To quote Reverend Breen speaking to the town of Mayberry,
“Relax, slow down and take it easy…What’s Your Hurry?” Indeed, what is your hurry?