AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() The Gospel records show that Jesus worked hard. Yet on that last night, with many useful tasks undone and urgent human needs unmet, the Lord had peace He knew He had finished God's work. For every ten withered muscles that had flexed into health, a hundred remained impotent. A prostitute at Simon's banquet had found forgiveness and a new life, but many others still walked the street without forgiveness and a new life. How could Jesus use the word "finished"? His three year ministry seemed all too short. In the great prayer of John 17 He said, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (verse 4). On the night before He died, Jesus made an astonishing claim. Is there any escape from this pattern of living? The answer lies in the life of our Lord. We realize we've become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent. But in the light of time's perspective their deceptive prominence fades with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But the urgent tasks call for instant action-endless demands pressure every hour and day.Ī man's home is no longer his castle it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with imperious demands. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, visit with that non-Christian friend, careful study of an important book: these projects can wait. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today or even this week. We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. It often returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities. Several years ago an experienced cotton mill manager said to me, "Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important." He didn't realize how hard his maxim hit. We confess, quite apart from our sins, "We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." The winds of other people's demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. We sense uneasily that we may have failed to do the important. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month or year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time it is basically the problem of priorities. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less. Greater experience in profession and church brings more exacting assignments. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. ![]() We desperately need relief.īut would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn't we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four allotment? A mother's work is never finished, and neither is that of any student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. ![]() Included in the Basics for Christian Living with permission.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |