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Jesus could say at the end of his short earthly life, “I have finished the work which you gave me to do.” But I wonder how many of us will be able to say that. Are you doing what God has given you to do, or are you distracted and burned-out by trying to do urgent things that are not truly important?
Though Jesus did much during his short earthly life, he didn’t do everything everybody wanted him to do. He didn’t heal all the sick, he didn’t reach everyone. When so much was left undone, how could Jesus say he had finished his work? In his pamphlet, The Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel puts it so well, “Here is the secret of Jesus’ life and work for God: He prayerfully waited for his Father’s instructions and for the strength to follow them. Jesus…discerned the Father’s will day by day in a life of prayer. By this means he warded off the urgent and accomplished the important.”[1]
If you want to be free from burnout, free from being victimized by the loud voices of urgency that often surround you, you must remember what Jesus told us: If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32). A life of prayer and a life of daily abiding in the Word of God is our key. How easy it is to let these truly important things be shoved aside by all those urgent voices.
Urgent things usually have deadlines and time frames, while important things may not. Therefore, it’s quite easy to do the urgent things, but leave the important things undone.
Could it be you need to find balance in your life by making the main thing the main thing and not allowing those urgent voices to dictate your schedule? And at the top of your important list should be the commitment to spend substantial time in your pursuit of knowing the living God.
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[1] Hummel, C. E. (1967). The Tyranny of the Urgent. Downers Grove, IL; Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.