Urgent vs Important

Greetings All,

This week's 'thought' comes to you from a little booklet called "The Tyranny of the Urgent," by Charles E. Hummel. It should speak to most in North America and Europe, though the spread of the - "must keep busy, must produce, and must always achieve more to have true meaning in my life" - mentality, has moved far beyond the borders of those two areas to infect places that used to be more relational and laid back in their approach to life.

This nearly universal persuasion in the West--that being busy, or always being in a hurry adds meaning to our lives--actually robs us of the more important things of life, such as depth, intimacy, satisfaction, and fulfillment in our relationships with God and others. After all, how can we relate to God or others on anything more than a superficial level if we never slow down long enough to put aside the tyranny of the next pressing task or appointment, focus of the person in front of us, listen attentively to what they are really trying to say, and then share with them (from an engaged heart) in return?

Merely sending off a rushed text or a tweet as we hurry to our next appointment may make us feel superficially connected, but it won't bring about the degree of intimacy the heart craves. Superficial interactions lead to superficial relationships and superficial relationships lead to a superficial life -- which is not God's intention for anyone.

Yet avoiding the trap of non-stop busyness, and breaking free from the addictive adrenalin rush that keeps us locked into that hurried pace, requires an earnest re-evaluation of what's important (in light of eternity), and a counter-cultural reorientation of both our priorities and schedules! In this sense Mr. Hummel offers some very sound advice. Enjoy.

"Have you ever wished for a thrity hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate what we have accomplished. We desperately need relief. But would a longer day really solve our problem?...

When we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time. It is basically a problem of priorities... As an experienced factory manager once said to me, 'Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.' He didn't realize how hard his advice hit. It has often returned to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities...

Freedom from the tyranny of the urgent is found not only in the example of our Lord, but also in his promise. In a vigorous debate with the Pharisees in Jerusalem, Jesus said to those who believed in him, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin... If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.' Many of us have experienced Christ's deliverance from the penalty and power of sin in our lives. Are we also letting him free us from the tyranny of the urgent? In this message he points the way: 'If you hold to my teaching.' This is the path to freedom, continuing day by day to meditate on the Scriptures and gain our Lord's perspective.

P. T. Forsyth once said: 'The worst sin is prayerlessness.' Does this statement surprise us? We usually think of murder and adultery as among the worst offenses against God and humanity. But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency, or independence from the rule of God. When we fail to wait prayerfully for God's guidance and strength, we are saying with our actions, if not with our words, that we do not need him. How much of our service is actually a 'going it alone'?

The opposite of such independence is prayer in which we acknowledge our need of God's guidance and empowerment. In this respect we have seen the example set by Jesus in the Gospels. He lived and served in complete dependence on his Father. Contrary to popular views, such dependence does not limit or repress human personality. We are never so fully personal -- free to become our true selves -- as when we are living in complete dependence on God."

Have you stopped to distinguish between the urgent and the important and made the important the priority? Do you do what is pressing when you really need to be doing is what is primary and crucial. I will never forget Martin Luther's famous words when he was swamped one day with a huge load of tasks: "I have so much to do today," he said, "that I need to spend the first three hours in prayer." What a word to the wise! So often we tend to use some pressing task or an overloaded schedule as a reason to skip our time of prayer, whereas Luther used it as a reminder of his need to pray all the more, and even pray longer than he normally did. That's probably because we tend to forget where our strength comes from. Many I've spoken with have confused the adrenalin rush of busyness and the accompanying sense of 'accomplishment pleasure' with the power of God and the strength He gives -- that is until they crash.

We would do well to remember that ongoing strength and focus and a right perspective on life come from time spent in His presence. That communion with God sustains the soul and uplifts the wearied spirit. That godliness is far more important than productivity. That God is far more interested in who we become than what we accomplish. That being still and knowing He is God is far more beneficial to the soul than simply being busy.

After all, as the Scripture declares, "The joy of the Lord is our strength" -- a joy conveyed to us (to renew and sustain us) as we spend time in the presence of the One who loves and delights in us -- even when we aren't doing, rushing, achieving or accomplishing anything!

Are you busy? Maybe its time to spend the next three hours in prayer.

Pastor Jeff

Entertained

Greetings All,

This week's "thought" comes from A. W. Tozer -- a man who spoke as a prophetic voice to the culture and church of his day. The thought presented below would definitely fall into that category. It comes to you from his book "The Root of the Righteous," and as with so many of the thoughts I send your way, I send it because I feel it is helpful and insightful. Although it was written the year before I was born (1955) it is still, in so many ways, a word that can challenge us to avoid something that is or can be a very real danger for many. It deals with the modern love for entertainment. Enjoy.

"A German philosopher many years ago said something to the effect that the more a man has in his own heart the less he will require from the outside. Excessive need for support from without is proof of the bankruptcy of the inner man.

If this is true (and I believe it is) then the present inordinate attachment to every form of entertainment is evidence that the inner life of modern man is in serious decline... He has become a parasite on the world, drawing his life from his environment, unable to live a day apart from the stimulation which society affords him.

Schleiermacher held that the feeling of dependence lies at the root of all religious worship, and that however high the spiritual life might rise, it must always begin with a deep sense of need which only God can satisfy. If this sense of need and a feeling of dependence are at the root of natural religion it is not hard to see why the great god Entertainment is so ardently worshipped by so many. For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable. They look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as an addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they could not summon courage to face existence.

No one with common human feeling will object to the simple pleasures of life, nor to such harmless forms of entertainment as may help to relax the nerves and refresh the mind exhausted by toil. Such things, if used with discretion, may be a blessing along the way. That is one thing. But the all-out devotion to entertainment as a major activity for which and by which men live is definitely something else again.

The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin. The growth of the amusement sector of human life to such fantastic proportions is a portent -- a threat to the souls of modern men."

Obviously in an entertainment-driven culture like ours, opinions will be mixed in regard to his words. But when one considers there is so much that God calls us as His people to be doing -- in regard to time spent communing with Him in prayer / or serving, loving and investing in others / or growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus / or being still and silent before Him in worshipful contemplation / or reaching out to others with the Gospel / or "making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15) -- it becomes hard to justify the exorbitant amount of time many Christ-followers spend in front of a TV (and I say this as one who's conscience has sometimes been pricked in this regard).

Tozer is right again when he adds further on in the chapter that in addition to being a relief for boredom and a psychological narcotic, the reason the Church has historically stood against entertainment is that it recognized it for what it often has been: "a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, and a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability."

The issue of seeking to be entertained as opposed to rejecting the temptation to be entertained, is not (in most cases) an issue of flagrant "sin." Rather, its a matter of wise stewardship: "How could I better use this same segment of time God has given to me to make a difference in someone's life and for eternity?"

Instead of getting up after a few hours in front of the TV having done nothing, learned nothing, changed nothing and gained nothing, how could I do something, learn something, change something or help someone gain something that would be helpful for them and of eternal significance?

With prayers that the TV won't drown out the still small whisper of God in our conscience.

Pastor Jeff