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May 12 - May 15, 2025
Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Satan doesn’t show up as a demon with a pitchfork and gravelly smoker voice or as Will Ferrell with an electric guitar and fire on Saturday Night Live. He’s far more intelligent than we give him credit for. Today, you’re far more likely to run into the enemy in the form of an alert on your phone while you’re reading your Bible or a multiday Netflix binge or a full-on dopamine addiction to Instagram or a Saturday morning at the office or another soccer game on a Sunday or commitment after commitment after commitment in a life of speed.
love is painfully time consuming.
“I cannot live in the kingdom of God with a hurried soul.”
Labor-saving devices really do save time. So where did all that time go? Answer: we spent it on other things.
A similar study found that just being in the same room as our phones (even if they are turned off) “will reduce someone’s working memory and problem-solving skills.”
our attention span is dropping with each passing year. In 2000, before the digital revolution, it was twelve seconds, so it’s not exactly like we had a lot of wiggle room. But since then it’s dropped to eight seconds. To put things in perspective, a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds.20 Yes. That’s right. We’re losing, to goldfish.
hurry is a form of violence on the soul.
Reject any guilt or shame you’re feeling right now. It’s not helpful, rarely from God,
Just because everybody’s doing it, don’t make it smart.”
what you give your attention to is the person you become.
“Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.”
Whatever your thing is—parenting, painting, music, entrepreneurship, origami—whatever—there will always be somebody better at it than you.
Even the best version of me can’t do it all.
“What is that to you? You must follow me.”
“We find God’s will for our lives in our limitations.”
Life is a series of choices. Every yes is a thousand nos. Every activity we give our time to is a thousand other activities we can’t give our time to.
‘No’ is a complete sentence.”
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Your life is the by-product of your lifestyle.
But Jesus realizes that the most restful gift he can give the tired is a new way to carry life, a fresh way to bear responsibilities…. Realism sees that life is a succession of burdens; we cannot get away from them; thus instead of offering escape, Jesus offers equipment. Jesus means that obedience to his Sermon on the Mount [his yoke] will develop in us a balance and a “way” of carrying life that will give more rest than the way we have been living.8
An easy life isn’t an option; an easy yoke is.
he put on display an unhurried life, where space for God and love for people were the top priorities, and because he said yes to the Father and his kingdom, he constantly said no to countless other invitations.
The wilderness isn’t the place of weakness; it’s the place of strength.
Think about this: Jesus needed time in the quiet place. I repeat, Jesus needed time. And a fair bit of it. You think you don’t?
Solitude is engagement; isolation is escape.
Solitude is safety; isolation is danger.
Solitude is how you open yourself up to God; isolation is painting a target on yo...
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“Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.”
You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.4
It’s been proven by study after study: there is zero correlation between hurry and productivity.
once you work a certain number of hours in a week, your productivity plummets.
The goal here is to live with a high degree of intentionality around what matters most, which, for those of us who apprentice under Jesus, is Jesus himself and his kingdom.
Live from a center of abiding.
