Hurry Up and Slow Down
So here we are in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand Twenty, and we dwell in a land of deep darkness — no, I mean, distraction.
Between smartphones, social media, and a gargantuan buffet of online streaming services, it’s hard to imagine past societies with more addictive time-fillers at their finger tips. And it’s doing something to us.
The overall effect, I believe, is a pervasive sense of hurry. That doesn’t mean we’re always hurrying, but that we have a sense of hurry. Whether it’s the air we breathe or swirling in our hearts, we tend to live with a subtle pressure to do things quickly and expect visible results. There’s no doubt you’ve already seen this promised in a headline or two about New Years resolutions:
they don’t offer diets, they promise better health within three weeks;
our resolve isn’t enough, so they tell us we can achieve our goals in just two minutes a day;
Rosetta Stone even assures me that I can gain a lifetime skill with a one-time fee.
With the constant competition for our attention, even when we deploy all of our time-saving hacks, it begins to erode our wholeness of soul. Our society has shaped us into being simultaneously tired and impatient, worn-out but always looking for the next best thing. It’s all a hustle, but we seldom realize how misguided it is until we try to apply it to the Christian life.
Because the Christian life is a long-distance race, remember, not a sprint. Paul pulls most of his metaphors from agriculture, not Amazon Prime. The path of discipleship doesn’t have a “Buy Now” option, but it’s one of faithful endurance.
It’s a “long obedience in the same direction.”
We’re Not Bottle Rockets
When I was a freshman in college, after only being on campus a few weeks, one night I sensed God calling me into pastoral ministry. It was a strong, unshakeable sense. Around midnight I called my dad back home to tell him. The next day I marched into Greg’s office, the Campus Minister, ready for orders. I had been called by God. I knew I wanted to give my whole life to ministry. I would later tell my baseball coach that I was giving up my scholarship to attend Bible college. But Greg just looked at me, pleasantly, and said, literal quote: “Don’t be a bottle-rocket.”
It was too much for me in the moment because I was ready to roll, or so I thought. I wanted an assignment, and I thought I would only insist for one insomuch as I was really called. So I kept looking, asking, but the Father kept making me wait. Had there been a little rural church in the Carolinas stupid enough to make an 18-year-old their pastor, I would have been stupid enough to take it. I wanted an assignment, but God made me wait — because the waiting was the assignment. Nine years of theological training was the assignment. More time passed. And when I wanted to plant a church, it meant more waiting. A five-year assignment of waiting. And by the time we launched Cities Church in January 2015, it had been 12 years since Greg told me to slow down. And guess what is still important for me, for our church, as we enter 2020?
Maybe it’s best summed up with an equation:
“Sustained investment + incremental progress + time = substantial growth”
What we most want doesn’t come quick. God is taking us somewhere, church, and because it’s worth going, it’s worth the time.
Substantial Growth in 2020
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
One degree to another. What’s a degree? How many degrees are there in a day? If with the Lord one day is as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8), what is one degree to the Lord? You get what I’m saying?
I don’t think there’s real math for this, but the point is that nothing Paul says about spiritual formation sounds fast (not unless we’re talking about the resurrection; see 1 Corinthians 15:51–55). Everything besides the resurrection takes time. In fact, we are now spiritually resurrected for patience unto the “redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23–25).
And on this path, as we’re seeking and working together for more Christlikeness, embrace the waiting. I don’t think we could do anything more counter-cultural.
Daily turn from your sin and strive simply to please Jesus and do what he says, resting in his mercy along the way. Maybe you don’t need to do anything new in 2020, but just to keep doing. Keep trusting. Keep on with your Community Groups and Life Groups. Keep linking arms with our brothers and sisters to walk and wait together, not with a sense of hurry, but with the eyes of faith. One degree to another.
