People nowadays take time far more seriously than eternity
Thomas Kelly
We live in an age where busyness and complexity are the norm. Instead of having a hobby with which to occupy our time, most Americans have three or four hobbies that consume their time. John Ortberg in his book, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted,” states it this way, “We suffer from what has come to be known as ‘hurry sickness.’ One of the greatest illusions of our day is that hurrying will buy us more time” (Ortberg, 77).
Meyer Friedman defines hurry sickness as “a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other persons.”
People who suffer from “hurry sickness” are never satisfied in spite of all their hurrying. They can never move fast enough or get enough accomplished. Hurry sickness has become so common and so accepted that our culture that we have even developed a new word to describe this type of behavior: Multi-tasking. Yet in spite of all the things we accomplish and become involved in, what we miss the most in our lives is depth and meaning. Our lives have been cursed by superficiality because depth always develops slowly over time.
Imagine if you will that your family doctor just gave you a diagnosis that your life depends on your ability to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” What would you do? Would you change your schedule? Your priorities? The way you live your life if your very life depended on it?
What if your very life does depend on it? “Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life in our day. As Carl Jung wrote, ‘Hurry is not of the devil. Hurry is the devil’” (Jung in Ortberg, 77). Hurry cuts to the heart of relationships and to our call to follow Christ. The most tragic side effects of hurry sickness is that it diminishes our capacity to love. “Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have” (Ortberg, 81).
So what can we do to stop our lives from being consumed by “hurry-sickness”? One of the most important things that we must do is develop a skill that Ortberg calls “slowing.” We must deliberately choose to place ourselves in positions where we simply have to wait. For example: get in the longest line at the grocery store, get behind the longest line of cars at a red light (or behind that eighteen wheeler), eat your food slowly, take off your watch for a day, etc. Many people, especially Type-A people, believe that they will not be able to accomplish as much if they do not rush; however, “researchers have found that there is simply no correlation between hurry or Type-A behavior and productivity” (Ortberg, 84).
What we are talking about is otherwise know as the Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity. Simplicity is an inward reality that express itself outwardly through the way we live our lives. Basically, it is finding our center in life (God) and basing all of our life’s decisions around that center. It does encompass what we do (our behavior) but has much more to do with who we are (our attitudes and values) and in whom we place our priorities (in ourselves or in God). Richard Foster states, “We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality [of simplicity] without its having a profound effect on how we live. To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism” (Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 79-80).
Simplicity is based upon the principle of making the “main thing the main thing.” In Matthew 6:33, Jesus tells us to, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” To develop simplicity in our lives, we must put our priorities in the right order. We must be determined to put God first in our lives. Truth be known, the person who does not seek God’s Kingdom first, does not seek it at all. For as worthy as any other cause, concern, or person may be, the moment they take precedence over our efforts to “seek first His kingdom,” they become idolatry.
Yet, to develop the discipline of simplicity does not necessarily mean that our lives will become any less busy. Simplicity doesn’t necessarily control the quantity of things we do as much as it controls the type of things that we do. Once we have our lives focused or centered on God, then all our decisions, our priorities, and our goals will be easy to determine because everything we do will emanate out of our desire to please God and seek His will. So what we choose to become involved in will have a singleness and unity in purpose: God’s purpose.
We begin to simplify our lives through inward focus. See “hurry sickness” is not primarily about having a disordered schedule, it is about having a disordered heart. So we must begin by adjusting our attitude, our heart. To begin this, we must realize and accept two principles:
Everything that we have is a gift from God.
It is God’s business, not ours, to care for what we have been given.
Once we have realized and accepted these two principles, we are ready to make the inner reality of simplicity become real, for inner simplicity can never be genuine until there is an outward expression of it. Yet, let me give a word of caution: Every attempt to give specific application to simplicity runs the risk of turning into legalism. Always remember that simplicity, like prayer, meditation, or any other Spiritual Discipline is only a means to an end, not the end in itself. The purpose for simplifying our lives is to attain singleness and purity of heart. If we do not reach that, we have failed. Everything we do must come forth out of love. Following rules without love = legalism.
Richard Foster lists “ten controlling principles” for the outward expression of simplicity. I shall briefly summarize them here.
1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than for their status. For example, consider your clothes. Most of us have no need for more clothes. Stop buying to keep up with the latest fashions. Buy only when new clothes are needed and buy practically.
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Learn to distinguish between a real psychological need and an addiction. Eliminate or cut back on the use of addictive, non-nutritional drinks: alcohol, coffee, tea, Coke, etc. If there is any form of media (TV, radio, magazines) that you realize you cannot live without; you need to get rid of it. Refuse to be a slave to anything but God.
3. Develop a habit of giving things away. If you are becoming attached to some possessions, consider giving it to someone who needs it. De-accumulate. Get rid of that mass of stuff that clutters your home and life. Give it away.
4. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Modern propagandists try to convince us that we must obtain the newest model of this or that because it features some new ability that will make our lives easier. The truth is that time saving devices almost never save time. Remember point number 1.
5. Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Our culture puts so much emphasis on owning things. “If we own it, we feel we can control it; and if we control it, we feel it will gives us more pleasure” (Foster, 93). This idea is an illusion. Borrow and share with others. Remember that we don’t really own anything, we only manage it for God.
6. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. “Simplicity means to discover once again that ‘The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it.’ (Ps 24:1) (Foster, 93).”
7. Look with a healthy skepticism at all “by now, pay later” schemes. The Bible views charging interest as an unbrotherly exploitation of another’s misfortune and a denial of community. These schemes are a trap that only deepen our bondage. Avoid them like the plague.
8. Obey Jesus’ instructions about plain, honest speech. Avoid speaking flattery and half-truths. If you promise to do something, do it. Refuse to be apart of jargon and abstract speculations. They tend to confuse rather than inform and illuminate. Simply put, let your yes’s be yes’s and your no’s be no’s.
9. Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others. This is one of the most difficult and sensitive issues for us to face, but face it we must. Do we sip our coffee and eat our bananas at the expense of exploiting Latin American peasants? Does our lust for wealth mean poverty for other? Should we buy products that are made by forcing people into dull assembly line jobs? Take a deeper look at the stuff you purchase. Who or what are you really supporting. Refuse to further the evils of this world by supporting them with your money.
10. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first God’s Kingdom. It is easy to lose focus even if we pursue good things. We must be diligent and deliberate about seek God. As Brother Jim Bliffen has said, “It is wrong to do good when something better should be done.” We must always keep our priorities in the right place and our focus on the right thing: God.
Over the next month, re-evaluate your life. Look at the activities you’re involved in. What are your priorities, your values, your goals. It is not enough for us to say that God, or church, or our family is important to us. We must show it by giving of our time and attention. Take the time to practice the art of “slowing”. I pray we all learn this discipline before our life has passed us by.
Wisdom is learning these truths sooner rather than later.
Love,
Ryan
