Haste the Day
Hasten the Day
Russia is the world’s largest country by square miles, but it’s only the 9th largest by population. Most Americans aren’t Russian, but most Americans are always rushin’ around (see what I did there??). It truly is a cultural problem how hurried we seem to be all the time. Too hurried for interruptions. Too hurried to slow down. Rushin’ from one place to another - always on the go. Rushin’ now so we aren’t rushin’ later (ok I’m done with the Russian thing I promise).
Everyone seems to be in a hurry. Especially Christians. And when we’re too “busy” to be inconvenienced with ministry, we’ve got a major problem. When we’re too “busy” to stop and help people around us who are in need, we’ve got a problem. When we can’t stop to help someone because we might be late for church, we’ve got a problem.
This is really quite ironic because of all the things we read about in scripture that Jesus did, you won’t find this one thing… In fact, I’m so confident that you can’t find it that I’ll pay you $1,000,000 that I don’t have if you did find it. The one thing Jesus never did… was run. Jesus never ran. Ever. He never ran, and He never rushed. He never ran, yet He was always on time.
This blog isn’t all about time, or Russians (last one I promise), but it is about haste - it is about hurry. It’s about the cultural epidemic of expeditiousness (I had to look that up). It’s about being so busy in the bustle that we lose the business. His business. The same work that Jesus did. The same work that made Jesus tell His own parents, “I must be about my Father’s business” in Luke 2. And His business isn’t busyness.
Hurry and haste may not be completely devoid of purpose and intentionality, but I will say that I don’t think it aligns with His purpose and intentionality. If it did, wouldn’t we see Jesus running and rushing, hastening and hurrying? And since we don’t see any evidence in scripture to support such a claim, we err on the side that running, rushing, hastening, and hurrying are not a part of our Father’s business. It’s just busyness.
And what better tactic for the enemy to use to remove you from the field of play than to give you busyness and get you thinking that it’s meaningful work. Menial isn’t meaningful. Like in school when you finished an assignment, and the teacher just gave you another sheet of the same thing. They even stopped hiding it and started calling it for what it is - busy work. It’s really just a distraction to keep you thinking you’re doing something productive.
And hurried doesn’t always equate to productivity. Just because you’re busy doesn’t automatically mean you’re productive. Just because you’re hurried doesn’t mean you’re pressed and polished. Just because you’re hurrying doesn’t mean you’re hustling. The difference between hurry and hustle is the mindset of excellence in the end result.
Hurry is more about finish than it is about done. You can cook the outside to look finished, but the inside isn’t done. Hustle isn’t hurried, but hustle is hurry with the mindset of excellence in the end result. And God doesn’t hurry but He sure does hustle. It’s just not on the same time frame that we’re on. That’s the problem - we gotta get on His, not expect Him to get on ours.
A mindset of hurry will keep you on a timeline that doesn’t align with His. A hurried pace is a brisk walking speed. Let’s say around 5-6 miles an hour. If you were walking with God, you’d be way ahead of Him with that pace. Why? Because God walks at a conversational pace, not a hurried pace. Not a hastened pace.
To switch analogies but keep the flow of our walk and work with God, I think God loves to cook. He’d probably have the greatest cooking show of all time too. But God cooks in a crockpot not a microwave. Crock pots and slow cookers work exactly like that - slowly. Because the best food takes time. Fast meals also usually aren’t healthy or good for us too. And done right now doesn’t mean done the right way. Deep things take time. Strength and endurance take time. Even the fruit of the Spirit can take time to better develop. The things of God - good things - take time.
Here’s the gist of this entire blog. Here’s the summed-up point. Here’s the simple version… slow down.
Haste makes waste.
Hustle isn’t hurry.
Hurried is worried.
Hurry creates its own blinders. We block out everything except the limited view of what we choose to see. That includes people. That includes opportunities. That includes ministry. So slow down so you can see them all when God brings them along.
Lord, hasten the day of Your coming, not the days of our goings. Why? There’s still so much work to be done.
Russia is the world’s largest country by square miles, but it’s only the 9th largest by population. Most Americans aren’t Russian, but most Americans are always rushin’ around (see what I did there??). It truly is a cultural problem how hurried we seem to be all the time. Too hurried for interruptions. Too hurried to slow down. Rushin’ from one place to another - always on the go. Rushin’ now so we aren’t rushin’ later (ok I’m done with the Russian thing I promise).
Everyone seems to be in a hurry. Especially Christians. And when we’re too “busy” to be inconvenienced with ministry, we’ve got a major problem. When we’re too “busy” to stop and help people around us who are in need, we’ve got a problem. When we can’t stop to help someone because we might be late for church, we’ve got a problem.
This is really quite ironic because of all the things we read about in scripture that Jesus did, you won’t find this one thing… In fact, I’m so confident that you can’t find it that I’ll pay you $1,000,000 that I don’t have if you did find it. The one thing Jesus never did… was run. Jesus never ran. Ever. He never ran, and He never rushed. He never ran, yet He was always on time.
This blog isn’t all about time, or Russians (last one I promise), but it is about haste - it is about hurry. It’s about the cultural epidemic of expeditiousness (I had to look that up). It’s about being so busy in the bustle that we lose the business. His business. The same work that Jesus did. The same work that made Jesus tell His own parents, “I must be about my Father’s business” in Luke 2. And His business isn’t busyness.
Hurry and haste may not be completely devoid of purpose and intentionality, but I will say that I don’t think it aligns with His purpose and intentionality. If it did, wouldn’t we see Jesus running and rushing, hastening and hurrying? And since we don’t see any evidence in scripture to support such a claim, we err on the side that running, rushing, hastening, and hurrying are not a part of our Father’s business. It’s just busyness.
And what better tactic for the enemy to use to remove you from the field of play than to give you busyness and get you thinking that it’s meaningful work. Menial isn’t meaningful. Like in school when you finished an assignment, and the teacher just gave you another sheet of the same thing. They even stopped hiding it and started calling it for what it is - busy work. It’s really just a distraction to keep you thinking you’re doing something productive.
And hurried doesn’t always equate to productivity. Just because you’re busy doesn’t automatically mean you’re productive. Just because you’re hurried doesn’t mean you’re pressed and polished. Just because you’re hurrying doesn’t mean you’re hustling. The difference between hurry and hustle is the mindset of excellence in the end result.
Hurry is more about finish than it is about done. You can cook the outside to look finished, but the inside isn’t done. Hustle isn’t hurried, but hustle is hurry with the mindset of excellence in the end result. And God doesn’t hurry but He sure does hustle. It’s just not on the same time frame that we’re on. That’s the problem - we gotta get on His, not expect Him to get on ours.
A mindset of hurry will keep you on a timeline that doesn’t align with His. A hurried pace is a brisk walking speed. Let’s say around 5-6 miles an hour. If you were walking with God, you’d be way ahead of Him with that pace. Why? Because God walks at a conversational pace, not a hurried pace. Not a hastened pace.
To switch analogies but keep the flow of our walk and work with God, I think God loves to cook. He’d probably have the greatest cooking show of all time too. But God cooks in a crockpot not a microwave. Crock pots and slow cookers work exactly like that - slowly. Because the best food takes time. Fast meals also usually aren’t healthy or good for us too. And done right now doesn’t mean done the right way. Deep things take time. Strength and endurance take time. Even the fruit of the Spirit can take time to better develop. The things of God - good things - take time.
Here’s the gist of this entire blog. Here’s the summed-up point. Here’s the simple version… slow down.
Haste makes waste.
Hustle isn’t hurry.
Hurried is worried.
Hurry creates its own blinders. We block out everything except the limited view of what we choose to see. That includes people. That includes opportunities. That includes ministry. So slow down so you can see them all when God brings them along.
Lord, hasten the day of Your coming, not the days of our goings. Why? There’s still so much work to be done.
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