The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Part three: Practices for unhurrying your life
Sabbath (1|4)
Pages 144-150
TOGETHER read the book (END READING AT: …it was woven into the fabric of Jesus’ weekly routine.) then the following scripture slowly and attentively.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Ecclesiastes 1:8 (NIV) All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
James 4:2-3 (NIV) You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Hebrews 4:11 (NIV) Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
GROUP DISCUSSION:
Desire is a great motivator. It’s the engine of our lives; its function is to propel us out of bed and out into the world. But. If at any point desire is no longer under our control and is instead driving our lives, we’re in trouble. Because when you realize desire is one of those things that is never, ever satisfied.
What is your reaction to this statement?
Have you ever experienced a desire for something that began to have influence over you?
Share just one or two things that stood out to you while reading the book and/or scripture. (try to keep it brief)
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your notes and pray.
John Mark Comer says: Desire is infinite. It has no limit. No point at which it’s ever satisfied. The problem is, we are finite; we have all sorts of limits, remember? So the result is restlessness. Or in the language of math: infinite desire - finite soul = restlessness.
What do we do with all this pent-up unsatisfied desire? This restlessness?
The Jesus tradition would offer this: human desire is infinite because we were made to live with God forever in His world and nothing less will ever satisfy us, so our only hope is to put desire back in its proper place on God. And to put all our other desires in their proper place below God.
What is your reaction to this statement?
Saint Augustine wrote: You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Dallas Willard wrote: Desire is infinite partly because we were made by God, made for God, made to need God, and made to run on God. We can be satisfied only by the one who is finite, eternal, and able to supply all our needs; we are only at home in God. When we fall away from God, the desire for the infinite remains, but it is displaced upon things that will certainly lead to destruction.
What is your reaction to these statements?
How do we begin to change our course of trajectory to be satisfied by only God? Is that even possible?
Sabbath /ˈsabəTH/ noun
The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew Shabbat. The word literally means “to stop.”
The Sabbath is a day to stop: stop working, stop wanting, stop worrying, just stop.
But Sabbath is more than just a day; it’s a way of being in the world. It’s a spirit of restfulness that comes from abiding, from living in the Father’s loving presence all week long.
What are things that need to stop for you? (being fearful, being angry, being bitter, etc.)
STOP and pray. Right now - thank God that He created Sabbath rest and ask Him what you need to stop doing to be fully engaged with him. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you call out desires, thoughts, behaviors, and rhythms that have you spinning, and ask God to exchange them for Sabbath Rest. A quieter mind, A more relaxed body, and a refreshed soul.
EXTRA READING:
Since its earliest centuries, the church has set aside a day to remember the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us in the faith, stretching across the centuries and around the globe. However hard it might seem to follow the way of Jesus in our own time and place, this is a day to remember that we may be crazy, but we are not alone.
“Do not think that saintliness comes from occupation; it depends rather on what one is. The kind of work we do does not make us holy, but we make it holy by working unto God’s glory.”
- Meister Eckhart von Hochheim (1260 - 1328)