Do you feel like you are always in a rush? Maybe you are like a lot of people who if you ask them how they are will say, “I’m fine, but really busy!” It seems to be a product of the world we live in.

The constant urgency of hurry will cause us to be continually stressed out. This same urgency of hurry will cause us to harm the very ones we are supposed to love and care for, and we will find ourselves constantly giving up our sabbath. This is clearly not God’s intention for us. The Bible says in Philippians 4:5-9 “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It is hard to show gentleness to everyone when we are stressed by the urgency of hurry to accomplish more than what we are capable of.

            The constant stress of being in a hurry leads to anxiety. Hurry sickness can creep up on us when we think about how much we need to accomplish and try to multi-task to the point that we forget important things that need to be done. Being in a hurry all the time can lead us to try to take shortcuts and compromise.

            The Gospels tell the story of how Jesus went into the wilderness to fast and pray. He had an incredible mission to accomplish for God, and only three years to accomplish it. Yet he started that mission in a long prayer retreat. This happened right after he was baptized, and his earthly ministry began. He spent forty days alone with God in prayer and fasting. Towards the end of the forty days, the devil showed up to tempt Jesus. Is not that like the devil tempting us when we are tired and hungry? Satan offered shortcuts to accomplish the things Jesus needed to do. Remember, he only had three years to change the world. If Jesus suffered from the urgency of hurry he may have been tempted by these supposed shortcuts, but in every instance, he said no to temptation referring to the scriptures each time.

            We often skip eating when we are urgently hurrying to accomplish a task. When our hunger starts screaming at us, we may look to junk food or fast food to appease our hunger. This kind of food is designed to make us crave more of it when we eat it. It is full of excess sugar, salt, and carbs. Satan told Jesus to take a shortcut and simply turn a bread loaf-shaped rock into real bread and eat and appease that hunger so he could get on with his mission. Jesus refused telling Satan in Matthew 4:4, “But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

            Next, Satan took Jesus to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem. Satan suggested he should throw himself off the temple in the sight of everyone because the angels would save him. In that way, people would immediately see he is the promised Messiah, and they will serve him. This would be much faster and easier than spending time trying to convince them of its merits. Jesus did not fall for this temptation to cut corners. Matthew 4:7 records, “Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

           

Finally, Satan offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would simply bow down and worship at his feet. He would forfeit his rule in exchange for a simple act of worship. At this point, Jesus was done. He would not take a shortcut because of the urgency of hurry. Matthew 4:10, “Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

                We must fiercely resist the constant urgency of hurry. American society pushes us to do more, do it faster, and work harder. There is always more to accomplish. Someone once used an analogy of a plane in flight. They expressed how a plane must expend an enormous amount of energy to get airborne. But it only takes a comparatively small amount of energy to keep it airborne once in the air. They went on with their analogy saying we are like airplanes. It takes a lot of energy to get us off the ground, but once in the air, we can coast. This analogy has some truth; however, it fails because we constantly push ourselves to go higher and higher. We never reach that point of rest. Jesus is the great example we must follow. We must pause from our work to spend time with God, with our family and friends. We need to trust God that He is working even when we are not. If we wait to take a Sabbath after all the work is completed, we will never take a Sabbath because the work is unending. I challenge you to step out on faith and start taking a regular Sabbath day each week, whether Sunday or another day. Try it for one month and see how God blesses you.