In Sunday’s message, I mentioned one of the primary obstacles to us getting in deeper touch with our souls is the hurried and harried pace of life today. John Ortberg writes about that in his wonderful book, the me I want to be. Ortberg shares that after taking a lead position at one of the largest churches in the country, he recognized that he needed to find ways to maintain spiritual balance in the faster pace of the ministry in which he was engaged; so he reached out to his spiritual mentor, Dallas Willard, for advice. Ortberg described his new church setting to Willard, the pace of his work, and the new rhythms of his family’s life in Chicago. Ortberg writes, “I asked my wise friend, the most spiritual man I’ve ever known, ‘What do I need to do to be spiritually healthy, to be close to God and to be effective as a family man and a pastor?’” A long pause ensued before Willard finally replied, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”
Ortberg eventually came to realize that his mentor was speaking about one of the most ancient of spiritual truths and practices - he was talking about Sabbath, the need for all of us to simply STOP at regular intervals in our lives, so that we can breathe in and breathe out, so that we can remember who we truly are. As Ortberg writes: “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, ‘Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.’”
We live in a driven society – driven to succeed, driven to achieve, driven to keep busy. You can even hear it in the way we speak to one another in daily life: “What have you been up to? What did you do today? What did you get accomplished?” The problem is, constant activity does not draw us near to God, and it can even get in the way of us knowing our true selves. Jesus knew this. That’s one of the reasons he routinely withdrew from the crowds and activity of his ministry, as important as it was. Jesus didn’t wait until everything was checked off of his to-do list before taking a break. And he taught his disciples to do the same: “Come away to a deserted place by yourselves and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31). What Jesus was teaching them to do, and what Dallas Willard was recommending to John Ortberg, was to slow down… and to remember the Sabbath. Sabbath is not as much about going to church on Sundays (even though that’s something I’d love for you to do) as it is about intentionally creating space in our lives so that we can experience God’s abundant grace.
Daily prayer: Lord, help me create space for your grace.