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Un-Hurry Week 1, Part 2:

Beating the Enemy of Hurry

 

Thought of the Week:

I first heard about the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry from a website called The Big Church Read. This website is dedicated to series which the Church of England encourages all their churches to participate. A part of that series are videos from the author. Check out this video from John Mark Comer that explains some more of the temptation to speed.

Corrie ten Boom was a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home. They were caught, and she was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She said this, "If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. I have been struck by this thought ever since I first read the book. Have you expereinced this to be true? 

I think about what busyness and hurry does to us. It elevates the heart rate, we often live in a fight or flight mode for large parts of the day. Like have you ever ended a day and sat down and realized you had been clinching part of your body, and you don't know when it started? Or have you ever felt like you were overwhelmed with commitments and you didn't understand their purpose or good? I hopoe this season will bring you into a place where you carry the yolk of Christ. His burden is lighter. His to do list for you is shorter then the one you give yourself. Even if you keep up a lot of your activity, begin to take time to trust God and what is necessary. Corrie ten Boom also said this, "Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden." I pray you ae able to turn your burdens over. 

Scripture to Consider: 

For me, a passage that has always helped me with stress and anxiety is the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice in the Lord always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in every circumstance, for this is the will of God for those in Christ Jesus"  

This is the longing of God for your life. Everything else, all of the todo's, while important, are not the deepest longings God has for you. 

Questions: (adapted from BigChurchRead)

  1. Do you think or feel that you need to change your life, in order to stop hurrying? Are you ready to?
  2. What would you say is the greatest challenge to your spiritual life?
  3. How does Dallas Willard’s suggestion to John Ortberg, ‘you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life’, sound to you?
  4. ‘Hurry and love are incompatible.’ Would you agree? When was the last time you found this to be true in your own life?