Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31, NIV
Have you ever had the experience of having to drive a considerable distance to an appointment? However, the vehicle that you’re driving shows that the gas gauge is closer to empty than you would like? But you’re in a hurry—late for your meeting—so you decide to see if, “I can just make it.” The red warning light comes on on the dash. Then your fuel gauge rests solidly on the empty mark, your stomach tightens mile by mile. Perhaps you will make it—perhaps you won’t. The closer the gauge gets to empty, the more tense you become.
Richard Swenson, a medical doctor, believes that overload has become an epidemic. Supporting that contention, he says one in three of us feels “rushed” all of the time. He also says that today we sleep two-and-a-half hours less than people did a generation ago, and larger quantities of sleep-inducing medications are being consumed now than ever before. Dr. Swenson also says that instead of modern communications—Facebook, cell phones, texting, email, so forth—making life easier for us, they have only compounded the pressures that most of us face in the daily routine of life.
You would probably agree you’re doing more and more now than you’ve ever done before, and more than you should be doing. But when you’re swimming the horses across the river, you can’t just say, “I’m going to take a week or two off!” Neither can you stretch your day any further, so the problem has to be addressed differently.
At the height of His ministry, Jesus faced times when He purposely backed away from the great crowd to find time to be in His Father’s presence. John 7:53 and the verse that follows, 8:1, stand in contrast, each to other. John records, “Then each [the multitude of people who had pressed upon Jesus] went to his own home.” Followed by, “But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts ….” Watching the sunrise over the temple mountain was not the reason Jesus sought solitude. It was to find the power and the strength necessary to do His Father’s bidding.
Likewise, keeping first things first demands separating yourself from the constant cry or solicitation for you to do more, and first be in His presence. Start your day by being in the Word, having time for prayer before you check email or messages. Listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit as you begin your day.
My suggestion is that you then categorize the demands made on your time—place them in one of three categories: “must do,” “should do,” and “can do.” Starting with the most urgent that you feel is in accord with what God wants of you.
Dwight L. Moody, a man of God, once said that the man who is a successful person is not the one who can do the work of ten men, but rather the one who can get ten men to do the work! That’s all part of what making disciples is all about. When it comes to the use of your time, no one can make those decisions except you.
For many, many years, I’ve started each day with prayer and then assessing the responsibilities that I had for that day. I would start with the most urgent one and then work down through the list. And, by the way, if there’s a person I really don’t want to call, I call them first thing to get it off my plate and then to fulfill my obligation or my duty. Remember, you are the one who controls your schedule.
Resource reading: Mark 6:30-34
