By Abby Roper | Broadcast Reporter
“Busy” has become a default answer when asked how we are doing. When we think of speed, fast is always better than slow.
A recent read of mine challenged this mindset. What I wasn’t prepared for was the implications it would have on my life and my relationship with God.
The book is called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by Pastor John Mark Comer. It sounds good, right? We always hate to be in a hurry, so let’s figure out how to slow down and eliminate the quickness of life.
Comer begins with summarizing our world. Fast is good and productive, he says. Slow is sluggish and unproductive. If the service at a restaurant is slow, we say the place has bad service. This is something we inherently know to be true.
However, there is a lot to unpack. Because we run on this mindset, we are constantly busy. Whenever someone asks how I am doing, I would be lying if I said they don’t almost always hear some variation of: “Great, just busy!”
We need to realize how much we actually do control our time. As college students, we have mastered the art of hyper-busyness. Academics take the forefront, but in an environment with so many opportunities to get involved, there seems to be no escape.
The constant hurry and busy behavior cause us to feel uncomfortable in slow paces and silence, missing out on what God has for us.
Thinking about this busyness we all deal with and the choices we get to make, I asked myself a question: Where am I going wrong?
Comer explains, like many of our pastors do, that we are called to live a life like Jesus. We hear this all the time as Christians, but often think it means something along the lines of “be more kind and loving to people.” While it does include things like that, it also means we are called to live a life that reflects Jesus.
This is where slowing down comes in.
When looking at the miracles Jesus performed throughout the gospels, we see someone who is never in a hurry. At the end of the day, Jesus would go out on his own and spend time with God. This time with God was slow and silent.
When looking at scripture, there are so many instances of Jesus doing just that.
Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Jesus finds peace in solitude.
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed,” Luke 5:16 reads.
How is it that the Son of God needs to spend slow and silent moments with God, but we don’t realize we need to? He took time away from the busyness and the miracles and recentered himself on the plan God had for him.
When looking at our lives, it’s not about having more time to do more things and get more accomplished; it’s about choosing the most important things and doing them first, then allowing the rest to come into the picture later.
That realization hit harder than I expected. I felt a personal conviction that I have been doing what all of us do, claiming busyness when offered more time to slow down with God.
Think about all the things you choose to do in a day, now subtract the things that aren’t work or school-related. What is left?
After just finishing a quarter of this book, I opened my planner and decided when my time would be — when my time to slow down and be with God would happen.
To become more like Jesus, we need to take up the way Jesus lived. He was unhurried, looked to God for guidance and sought him in silence and solitude.
This can be looked at as a rule of life for Christians; our time with God comes first, then all the rest can fall into our schedules. The first part of this realization comes with understanding that fast isn’t always good. Despite the ideology that our culture and world have created, slow can be the most transformative and impactful speed at which to live our lives.
What if slowing down isn’t falling behind on our to-do list but actually finding the joy that exists in the slow, quiet moments with Jesus? Becoming more like Jesus begins with doing less instead of more and slowing down to live like Jesus.
