“You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of your soul and will sabotage your spiritual life.” That was what a Christian leader on the verge of burn-out heard from his mentor. It saved his life. 

That sage advice stands true today—maybe especially today. Have you noticed all the busy people around you? Young moms and dads are busy. Children are busy. Empty nesters are busy. We’re surrounded by so much busy that the medical profession has a new name for it: hurry sickness. We’re here, there, and everywhere. No time to stop and rest. No time to heal. No plan to slow down. So we plow forward full-throttle and wait to crash and burn.  

People pay attention to the battery, generator, temperature, and fuel lights on their dashboard because they’re important. A dead battery or empty fuel tank means “stuck.” And worse, an overheated engine means burnout or blowout. But we tend to ignore the personal warning signs of our body. We view exhaustion as a cue for caffeine. That’s the American way of life, the cultural air we breathe. 

Energy drink sales bring in an annual 53 billion dollars with a 7.2% increase each year. Have a late night? No problem. Monster drink offers you 34 flavors of pick-me-up. Or you can choose one of Red Bull’s 16 delicious options. Text while driving, break the speed limit, push the boundaries. We have no margins, so our gears are stripped and our souls are hollowed out. We’re sick and tired, but not looking back.  

Dr. Richard Swenson, a believer, wrote a book on margin and overload. He said: 

Many patients show signs of a new disease: marginless living. How often do I see the effects of marginless living? About every fifteen minutes. Into my office on a regular basis comes a steady parade of exhausted, hurting people. The reason these patients come to me, however, is not to discuss their lack of margin. They don’t even know what margin is. Instead, they come because of pain. Most don’t realize that pain and the absence of margin are related…The disease of marginless living is insidious, widespread, and virulent.

Healthy, productive, and well-rested are not part of our vocabulary. But they’re part of God’s. And He has a better plan for personal human flourishing. That plan was woven into creation, the Law, and even the Promised Land farming rules. It was called Sabbath. That word means “to cease” or “to rest.” 

God knew humans would overdo it. He knew hurry sickness would sabotage our spiritual life and disconnect us from God, from each other, and even from ourselves. So He gave us the Sabbath. It began with a pattern He established: God worked, then rested and delighted in what He had made. Think about that. God rested, and He wasn’t even tired? Why? To set a pattern for us. 

Jesus said: “The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is for us. It serves us. We don’t serve it. Finally, we can slow down and delight in God and His good gifts. We can truly rest. And while we rest, we can reflect on our past deliverance and future promise of restoration.  

Like all His laws, God did not give us the Sabbath to enslave us, but to free us. He knows how life works best. He’s not trying to make life miserable, but to help us flourish—to become human beings instead of human doings.  

We are hard-wired to self-destruct in a million ways. One of them is to over-work and under-rest. But God doesn’t want that for His followers. God's will for His disciples is that we have a rested body, a sound mind, and know our limits. Christians should be the most well-rested and happy people on the planet—the people who enjoy life the most. Love, joy, peace, and patience are incompatible with hurry. 

Jesus was a man who was never in a hurry—even though His mission was urgent and critical. In fact, on one occasion, Jesus took his disciples aside to a quiet place to rest because there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. Jesus wants us to take care of our bodies so we can serve and represent Him well.

The famous Scottish pastor, Robert Murray M’Cheyne was one of the most powerful ministers to ever stand in the pulpits of Scotland. He graduated from Edinburgh University at age fourteen in 1827 and led a Presbyterian congregation of over a thousand members at age twenty-three. He’s the kind of man a young pastor or planter would hail as a hero. But he worked so hard that he ruined his health.

On his deathbed at 29, he turned to his best friend and said, “God gave me a message to deliver and a horse to ride. Alas, I have killed the horse and now I cannot deliver the message.” Are we killing the Lord’s horse with our pace and lifestyle? 

A foolish Christian once said: “It is better to burn out than to rust out in the service of the Lord.” We have better options. Another said, “the Devil never takes a day off.” But since when is Satan our role model? God rested. And Jesus took power naps.  

This seems like an upstream practice because resting is so counter-cultural and unAmerican. Our performance-based lifestyle protests anything that slows the pace. A simple, quiet life is not socially reimbursable. There is simply no glory in rest. But there is wisdom. Some of my worst moments have been when I was in a hurry.   

Do you live a simple life? Or are you keeping commitments that drain you, exhaust you, and wear you out? Then here’s a question: Did God ask you do to them? No? Then I have some sage advice for you. Ruthlessly eliminate them from your life because you're headed for a spiritual cliff. 

As the Finnish proverb says, “God did not create hurry.” But He did create the Sabbath. And He wants you to enjoy it with Him. He’s waiting.