Spiritual Goals and Values: Following Jesus in His Upside-Down KingdomSample

Mary and Martha (Part 1)

“What you give your attention to is the person you become.” - John Mark Comer.

We are currently living in a hustle culture. Full of side-gigs, boss babes, life hacks, and overwhelming busyness. In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer talks about the “hurry sickness” that plagues our current society. John explores the idea that both our sin and our busyness have the same effect on us - they cut off our connection to God, other people, and even our own souls.

How do you feel about that? Do you see busyness as a point of pride or a problem? Why do you think that is?

This has got to an extreme point within our society, where we are now addicted to busyness. Did you know, for example, that the average iPhone user touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day?? 2,617 times! If we forget our phones or can’t find them, it can leave us feeling naked, lost, untethered…it is as if we have completely lost the ability to just sit, be present, or be bored. You only need to sit at an airport or catch a train to see the truth of this reality, as 99.9% of people stay glued to their devices (usually everyone except babies or the really, really, really old).

Furthermore, did you know that our attention span is dropping with each year that passes? Before the digital revolution it was 12 seconds. Now, it is 8 seconds. 8 seconds! To put that in perspective, the attention of a goldfish is 9 seconds…we are officially less focused than a goldfish. That’s a problem (at least it should be!).

This hurry sickness manifests itself in a bunch of destructive symptoms and behaviours that we see all around us. For example:

• Continual rushing
• Anxiety
• Constantly feeling short on time
• Being flustered by delays
• Irritability
• Hypersensitivity
• Restlessness and the inability to relax
• Emotional numbness and the inability to feel anything
• Lack of sleep, exercise, and healthy eating
• Escapist behaviours (overeating, overdrinking, binge-watching, doom scrolling, etc)
• Isolation

Do any of these apply to you and your life?

It’s very clear, therefore, that our current system of hustle and frantic busyness is not pulling positive qualities out of us as a society, and yet the crazy thing is that it doesn’t even feel crazy. It feels normal. If this is all we have ever known, it’s sometimes hard to envision anything differently, but this is not the pace the world has always been.

Here’s some truth to chew on today: this hurried and rushed pace of life (that we celebrate in our world today) is robbing us of all the things that truly matter; love, deep relationships, joy, gratitude, creativity, generosity, and connection with God and others.

When we look at the life of Jesus, He was rarely in a hurry. And I mean, come on, if anybody had a reason to rush and hurry - it was Him! His job was to save the world from their sins! His days were filled with healing the sick, teaching everybody everything about life and eternity and God, training and teaching His disciples, doing miracles, casting out demons.. and yet, Jesus wasn’t in a hurry. In fact, Jesus often retreated away to be by Himself, to pray, and to spend time with the Father (Luke 5:16).

Jesus knew that we can “achieve inner peace when our schedule is aligned with our values.” His schedule screamed His values. Does yours?

Tomorrow we are going to examine the story of Mary and Martha, which is all about this topic - and Jesus has a lot to say.

In preparation, take a moment to think about or journal this question: what does it mean for our values to align with our schedules? How do we see that play out in the life of Jesus?

Take some time to jot down everything in your schedule over the past week. If somebody who didn’t know you looked at your schedule, what would they say were your top three values and life goals? Would you agree or disagree with them? Is this where you want to be?