Kylie and I recently visited my brother and his wife in Brooklyn. We had a great time being with them. It was fun for us to see where they’ve been living and visiting some of their favorite places in the city. NYC is an amazing city and truly one of a kind!
It doesn’t take long to see and feel the fast paced lifestyle of New Yorkers. People move with purpose from one place to another: rushing to the subway, shops, work, etc. You can sense the competitive, cut-throat, environment of people trying to get ahead in life. New York City, after all, is where you go to chase dreams!
As I spent time there I started seeing the affects of its pace of life. In particular, it seemed especially rare for someone to look into your eyes, whether you’re ordering food or passing someone on the streets. Hurriedness is a cloud that covers the city.
As I walked the streets I wondered how hard it would be to follow Jesus here. Then it hit me… NYC is no different than STL. Yes, NYC is unique in many ways, however, most people I interact with in STL live a hurried and busy life. It’s super rare to meet someone who would describe their life as peaceful and that they have all the time and capacity in the world! We value our busyness, don't we? There's an underlying assumption that busyness equates importance and significance.
But what if busyness, and the hurried pace of life it produces, causes us to miss out on what God is doing all around us? What if a hurried life slowly kills our relationship with Jesus?
A few years ago I read a book by John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, and will never forget a story from the book. He retells a conversation (can be found on pages 18-19) that John Ortberg had with Dallas Willard (well-known professor and theologian)…
‘What do I (John) need to do to be spiritually healthy?’ After a long pause, Dallas says, ‘You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.’
The problem with hurry is that it causes us to live without an awareness of Jesus, which leads ultimately to self-centeredness. When we're hurried we only think about what we need to accomplish or chase after. We're like a horse wearing blinders, seeing only what's directly in front of us. We miss the opportunity to love others.
Also, hurry produces a lack of trust and faith in God. We ultimately hurry because we don't trust God to take care of us. Living an unhurried life (or waiting on God) is a discipline that doesn't come easy to us. It's much easier to fool ourselves that we have everything under control.
The last month I have felt like Jesus wanting me to patiently wait on Him, to not be in a hurry, as we seek to start new church communities in St. Louis. Everything in me wants to "make things happen" but in the end the last thing I want is a nominal church built on my own efforts. No one needs that anyway! We want to join Jesus, not ask Jesus to join us, as he builds a church community. The amazing thing is that we've started seeing the fruit of living unhurried and waiting on Jesus to bring us the right people to meet.
The way I've been practically slowing down is by being curious about people, listening intently to them and asking them questions about their life. This is a discipline for me! But, it's amazing the kind of conversations I've had at coffee shops, parks, or even going on walks.
Jesus was the perfect example of a completely unhurried life (even annoyingly so sometimes)! Just read the gospels and you'll notice Jesus' rhythm of life and how it varies greatly from those around him.
Several people have shared Psalm 27:13-14 with me recently and it has become a simple prayer as I seek to follow Jesus church planting.
Psalm 27 —
13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry! Do this and you will “see the goodness of the Lord.”
