Hurry Sickness

I think hurry sickness is everywhere! An example of it in your life may be how you examined the length of this post before deciding whether or not to commit to reading it. I know I do that all the time. We are so busy, hurrying around from one place to the other and it is killing us – at least our souls.

Meyer Friedman defines hurry sickness as “above all, a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other persons” (The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pg. 83-84).

Jesus said people with hurry sickness are like those seeds that falls among thorns: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature” (Luke 8:14).

Isn’t it amazing to think that our spiritual growth is often inhibited not by something bad we do, but simply by doing too much, so much that the important things in life get choked out.

As a pastor I know of so many people who have told me – sincerely I believe – that they really want to know God, to grow closer to Him, to be more engaged in the life of the church and to serve more. The problem is that they suffer from debilitating hurry sickness. They are unable or unwilling to say NO to that extra Sunday overtime, that sports league that will take them away from church or youth group, that TV show that keeps them from calling to check on a friend in need, etc. You get the point. We are being choked and life is draining out of us minute by minute, day by day, but we don’t slow down or re-arrange our priorities. What we do is speed up and add more . . . and we just get sicker.

Ironically, if we ever do say NO to anything it becomes the things we say we want most – to know God, to grow closer to Him, to be more engaged in the life of the church and to serve more. We would never say or do that consciously or directly, but we just allow it to slide away with other things taking its place until it no longer catches our attention anymore. Something has to go, so we choose God and His people . . . and our spiritual life is “choked” out of us and we just get sicker.

Hurry sickness is everywhere and in every one of us!

Where is it alive in you?

How do you combat it so that your spiritual life is not choked out of you?