Are you in a hurry? (And what is it doing to your spiritual life?)

In my last post, I shared that taking a sabbatical from ministry (for three months) was not really my idea. Running with Jesus (which is not recommended) had led to my own personal meltdown on so many levels. "Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. If we want to follow someone, we can't go faster than the one who is leading."(1) If we do, we end up living on fumes, just skimming the surface of life.

So what exactly happened? How did I get here, and what would it look like to find healing for my soul?

After months of reflection, I now know that it wasn't just one thing but a collection of several blind spots that led to my meltdown.

Here are just a few...

1. Hurry sickness

2. Distraction and the kingdom of noise

3. Self-seeking ambition

And the straw that broke the camel's back - I was running from relational grief. (You know because I was always in a hurry and too busy accomplishing things for God to deal with my own grief.)

What is Hurry Sickness?

So what exactly is "hurry sickness?" (and what is it doing to our spiritual lives?)

Meyer Friedman describes "hurry sickness" this way, "above all, 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."(2)

When we fail to put a ceiling on our pursuit of accomplishment and achievement when we just can't say no to one more activity, we have no other option but to speed up our pace of life, creating tension in our relationships. Tension that over time results in shallow relationships.

It's no wonder why Jon Ortberg warned that "hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well."(3) In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul wrote, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians‬ ‭5:22-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬) A hurried life is like a poison that attacks our spiritual transformation at a root level, causing the fruit of the Spirit to die on the vine before it ever has the chance to blossom.

What Hurry Sickness Attacks?

Where there is hurry, patience is nowhere to be found. As soon as patience tries to take root, hurry chokes it out. Henri Nouwen once said, "Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else."(4) Remaining present to the moment is virtually impossible for someone suffering from "hurry sickness." Hurry only cares about me and the next thing on my calendar. Or the next task on my to-do list.

It's not just patience that hurry attacks; it also wages war on our capacity to love God, ourselves, and others. Love is time-consuming and grossly inefficient, and time is the primary thing hurried people lack. Jesus was once asked by a Pharisee, "what is the greatest commandment in the law?" To which he responded, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew‬ ‭22:37-39‬ ‭NIV‬‬) It is clear from Jesus's response that if we have decided to follow Him, to be his apprentice, then love is to be our highest calling. Truth be told. Hurry and love are like oil and water. They can not coexist.

Hurry Sickness Self Check

So how do you know if you are suffering from hurry sickness? Consider the following warning signs:

1. You struggle to focus on one person or task at a time. Frequent multitasking is a necessity to keep up with your commitments. You take great pride in getting more done in less time than others.

2. You have difficulty staying present to the moment. You are almost always the first person to end the conversation. You are easily irritated when other people are not moving at your pace.

3. You have trouble being still. You feel guilty resting and taking time to care for your own soul. You don't have the time or emotional energy to serve others regularly.

Still not sure if you have fallen into the trap of a hurried life? Ask the people closest to you what they think. People who suffer from "hurry sickness" are often the last to know.

You-I-We would do well to heed Dallas Willard's advice when he said, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."(5) But here's the rub. We are not going to just stumble into an unhurried life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must intentionally fight hurry in every area of life.

In my next post, we will look closer at my second blind spot and attempt to unpack Satan's greatest weapon against you and me (and by extension today's local Church) as followers of Jesus.

(Spoiler alert. It's distraction!)

Notes

John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines For Ordinary People (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1997)
Friedman: Meyer Friedman and Diane Ulmer, Treating Type A Behavior - And Your Heart (Random House Publishing Group, 1985)
John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines For Ordinary People (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1997)
Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 1997)
Dallas Willard, Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2014)