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 How does our pace of life, especially for those of us in the first world, affect our walk with God, our relationships and family? While most of us would agree that our pace of life does affect these areas, and often in a big way, most of us just keep on living the same pattern.
Am I talking to you? If you don't know if this applies to you, here's some food for thought. You need to slow down if:
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You have a hard time reading a book due to your decreased attention span or because you are always fatigued.
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You have more than one email account along with accounts on FaceBook, MySpace and Twitter. You also own a cell phone that has in it all of the above.
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You work way too much and you do it to get a sense of self-worth or to
make more money so you can support a mortgage you can't afford, a nice car you don't need, a Harley Davidson you never ride and that time share you are trying to get rid of.
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You already spent that tax return, the one that hasn't come in yet, in order to enhance your lifestyle. Now you are worried that it will be less than you thought it would be.
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You are, always worried about something. In truth, you are about to join the ranks of millions of Americans who are sickened by stress with everything from ulcers to heart disease for one reason only - they worry all the time!
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You watch 3-6 hours of TV daily or you need to be on the internet 2-3 hours, not counting your work, or you play 2-3 hours of video games daily. For some of you, it's all of the above.
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You don't know what to do with yourself when there is just silence. Something needs to always be on; your radio, your TV, your iPod.
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You guiltily wonder when you will call your mom and dad because you are totally booked.
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You eat garbage and somehow hope to not look like garbage.
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You are acutely aware that you and your spouse live parallel lives.
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You are not in the mood to read a bedtime story to your kids because you just want to veg out in front of the TV with a beer or a box of chocolates.
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You have your kids in too many extracurricular activities; they have little playtime, no time with you and the schedule of a 21 year old.
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Your children know more about Dora de Explorer, Hanna Montana and the Jonas Brothers than about Jesus, Moses, David and the apostles because you have not taught them from the source of all truth. Instead, you let the media, school system and their peers be the main influences in their lives.
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You take meds to go to sleep, not because of an illness but because of stress. You need coffee to wake up and some more meds to digest your food without heartburn. All of this while you watch a commercial for another medication that glorifies your lifestyle as "people on the go".
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You see your neighbors pull into their two-car garage and they see you do the same thing but you never talk.
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Your friends need to give you at least a weeks notice before dropping by. For them to just show up at your door would be highly inappropriate.
Any of these hit home?
What are the roots of this dysfunction, this gerbil-on-a-wheel-chasing-a-piece-of-cheese syndrome?
We can get some answers in a letter from Jesus to a "very busy and very important" church in Laodicea.
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Rev 3:17 (TNIV)
What Jesus is talking about here is not material riches; he is talking about self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency, of course, comes from pride, the evil twin of confidence. It permeates every aspect of our culture. We draw our sense of worth from performance, achievement, having our act together, being in control of our life and destiny. Understanding the trap the Laodiceans are caught in, Jesus graciously offers:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.
Rev 3:20 (TNIV)
Jesus is not talking to non-Christians about salvation. He is talking to the Christians about a closer, more intimate relationship. Every follower of Christ needs to realize that a life of self-sufficiency can effectively leave Jesus outside of the proverbial door.
HOW TO SLOW DOWN
Let's talk about slowing down in the context of the two main things we were put on earth to do:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Mk 12:30-31 (TNIV)
If there is anything worth slowing down for it's these two pillar purposes God has for us. Let's get practical and unpack these two commandments into our everyday life:
1) Slow down so you can love people.
Don't just pretend that you love others. " Really love them; take delight in honoring each other."
Rom 12:9-10 (NLT)
If you are married, go for walks with your spouse, talk and pray together, and for goodness sakes, go on dates.
If you have children, have fellowship with them, lots of it. Experience life together: teach them about Jesus, the apostles, the heroes of our faith. Delight in them.
Invest in fewer relationships that are deep over many that will necessarily be shallow. Many Christians suffer from "hyper-fellowshipping".
Simplify your standard of living so you can improve your standard of giving. In plain words: repent of greed so you don't have to work 60 hours a week to keep up with a lifestyle that does not make you happy - or godly. For some of you, repenting of greed will mean months or years of undoing some of the mess you got yourself into. It is overwhelming, but worthwhile. It will eventually free you up so you can really love others.
Celebrate whatever you are doing. Try doing one thing at a time: don't talk on the phone while emailing; don't pretend to be paying attention in a conversation while you are watching TV. If you are cooking, just cook. If you are driving, just drive (it's safer too). If you are talking to your children give them your full attention. Try to give your heart and mind to whatever it is you are doing. Multitasking as a lifestyle is moral weakness.
Keep the Sabbath. It's the one commandment that is actually fun and most of us don't keep it. I highly recommend reading up on the spiritual purpose of the Sabbath and rediscover its joy. On a Sabbath, don't check your email or talk on the phone about business. Don't produce anything or try to get anything done, just be. Enjoy God and your family.
Try using up all of your vacation days. Americans have less vacation days than most outside of the US and on top of them most Americans don't use them! The average European takes between 4 to 8 weeks off per year, most of us have a hard time going away for even a couple of weeks.
2) Slow down so you can love God.
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Lk 5:15 -16
Jesus was a busy guy. He was God incarnate. He lived, loved, taught, rebuked, trained, made wine from water, fed thousands, healed incurable diseases, and brought people back from the dead. In short; if there ever was someone who could say- "I am very busy but can't slow down because all I do is important"- that would be Jesus. And yet even the Messiah "often withdrew to lonely places and prayed". I submit to you that you cannot love God they way He wants you to if you don't slow down.
Yet many of us have put our relationship with the Father in a box called "Quiet Time", which by the way, greatly varies in "size" and content. We think that a few minutes of rather lukewarm prayer every day is synonymous to having a loving Father-son/daughter relationship with the creator of the universe.
Christians for millennia have experienced a deeper intimacy and joy coming from a vibrant prayer-life. For example, in the 12th century a man called Augustine practiced and taught "Lectio Divina" or "Spiritual Readings" where a group of people would meet for contemplative prayer and would read a scripture slowly several times allowing periods of silence, reflection and prayer between each reading. This allowed for the truth to sink in, to taste it, to delight in the beauty of God's words.
In the 16th century a man called Ignatius of Loyola would have a seminar where people seeking to get closer to God would commit to 30 days of spiritual exercises from morning till night. Talk about slowing way down to love God.
The problem for many people is not that they can't slow down but that they won't slow down because, quite frankly, they don't enjoy or understand prayer. If you don't know how to find yourself in the presence of God during your prayer and Bible study, of course you are not going to push yourself to "often withdraw to lonely places" to pray. It is very hard to invest more time and energy into the practice of talking to a wall.
This is what helps me: when Jesus tried to explain God to people He often talked about God being just like a good father, only infinitely better. When I pray, I sometimes question the content of the prayer, my tone, focus, the heart behind it, etc. But if God is my Father, there is no insignificant prayer, no small detail, and no issue too mundane or shameful that I can't bring to Him.
I have a ritual with my two youngest daughters Violetta and Isabella who are now 7 and 5. We pray every night before they go to bed. The girls love to pray and they pray about everything under the sun (in fact, sometimes I need to tell them to wrap it up). For me as their dad no prayer of theirs is insignificant or silly. Furthermore, it's not just the words that matter to me, I love being in their presence, I love to hold their hands, smell their hair, and hear their voices. I love all of it. So does God when we go to him in prayer.
If you truly want to hear the voice of God you need to slow down so you can love Him, explore Him, understand Him and, this is vital, experience Him.
I love this poem called Words by Terri Churchill that talks about this fight to know God like He wants to be known.
Words
By Terri Churchill
i've been trying to reach you
climbing a tower of words.
babbling words-
dead ink-
my heart
cannot speak this language,
so it smiles politely and nods its head,
and pretends to understand.
but your words are not like this.
you opened your mouth
and creation said "yes"
and appeared from nothing-
day and night
oceans and land
and me-
all this with a few words.
i want to hear you this way.
i want to hear you in
flesh and blood
and blinding colors
and music that carries me to you.
can you carve your meaning
into my heart?
will you say to this motionless ink
"rise and walk"?
So ask yourself:
Does my life look like that of a person who wants to delight in honoring others?
Does my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God's voice?
If the answer is no, don't be discouraged, just start the process of slowing down your life. Discover the joy of a life of celebration, not desperation. God's words are not dead ink; your prayers are not just talking to the wall. Your Father wants you to hear him in flesh and blood, blinding colors and music that carries you to him.
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