John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. (aff.) Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2019. 286 pages.
Lately, I have been coming across more and more books about slowing down and learning how to rest. Apparently, stress, busyness, and dealing with constant distractions are increasingly becoming the issues of the modern world. This book is engaging, practical, and easy to read. I highly recommend it.
John Mark Comer is the pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon. He is married with three children. Though he is a pastor, he mentions his church only incidentally, instead focusing on normal Christians who are living harried lives.
Comer begins by describing a day when he hit the wall. He had preached six times during the weekend (1). He realized he was always in a hurry and always behind. He asked himself, “Why am I in such a rush to become somebody I don’t even like?” (4). He confessed, “I’m so emotionally unhealthy, I’m just leaking chemical waste over our poor staff” (5).
Comer has been mentored by John Ortberg, who was mentored by Dallas Willard. Willard coined the phrase, “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life” (19). Comer examines how hurry is harming our souls and then offers solutions for taking back control of our life and resisting the gravitational pull of “hurry.”
Comer notes that “Both sin and busyness have the same effect—they cut off your connection to God” (20). He adds, “Hurry and love are incompatible” (23). He quotes Walter Adams: “Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work” (25). Comer notes that 1370 was a watershed in human history, for the first public clock was launched in Cologne, Germany, that year (30). After that, people’s lives started being controlled by artificial time rather than by their own body clocks. He also notes that today’s American sleeps, on average, seven hours per night (31). A century ago, people slept an average of nine hours per night. Comer states that another major watershed was 2007 when Steve Jobs launched the iPhone (35). Today, average iPhone users touch their phone 2,617 times per day (36). This change has created an average attention span for Americans today of only eight seconds (39). He points out that a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds!
Comer argues that “. . . hurry is a form of violence on the soul” (47). He warns, “. . . what you give your attention to is the person you become” (54). Comer suggests that more time is not the solution (62). He notes that “Life is a series of choices. Every yes is a thousand nos” (70). He shares that by the time the average American male is 21, he will have played 10,000 hours of video games (71). The average American spends 705 hours per year on social media and 2,737.5 hours watching television (72). He argues that the world is filling our minds with its views and values and the result is a harried and stressed society.
Comer’s solution is to learn from Jesus. He purports, “If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus” (82). He suggests that taking on the yoke of Jesus is the same as becoming an apprentice of Jesus. He adds, “An easy life isn’t an option; an easy yoke is” (88). He makes the interesting comment, “After all, this is the man who waited three decades to preach his first sermon, and after one day on the job as Messiah, he went off to the wilderness for forty days to pray. Nothing would hurry this man” (91). He suggests, “But here’s the rub; most of us are too busy to follow Jesus” (122).
Comer offers an extended discussion on quiet and taking the Sabbath seriously. He notes that “The noise of the modern world makes us deaf to the voice of God” (122). He says of Jesus that “. . . the quiet place wasn’t a onetime thing. It was an ongoing part of his life rhythm” (126) Comer suggests that “Advertising is literally an attempt to monetize our restlessness” (147).
I appreciated Comer’s discussion on the Sabbath. He notes that the word sabbath can mean “stop.” But it can also mean “delight” (155). He points out that observing the Sabbath is the only spiritual discipline listed in the Ten Commandments (167).
Comer offers four answers to society’s tendency to hurry: 1) silence and solitude; 2) Sabbath; 3) simplicity; 4) sowing (247). Comer makes some interesting suggestions about simplicity. Some seem a little radical, such as wearing the same three shirts each week! He notes that the storage business is a 38-billion-dollar industry (166). He mentions that there is 2.3 billion square feet of storage space in the United States, which is indicative of a society that has too much stuff. He quotes Mark Twain: “Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities” (186). He also reports some interesting findings, such as that after a household earns $175,000, there is no noticeable increase in emotional wellbeing regardless of how much more money is earned (188). He also notes that the happiness level peaks on the eighth day of a vacation (241). He suggests taking as many vacation days at the same time as possible.
I liked a lot about this book. It is written in an engaging, enjoyable manner that makes it easy to read. Comer is transparent and does not hold himself up as a perfect model. Some of what he does for himself and his family is probably not for everyone. He offers some rules for slowing down that seem a tad far-fetched, like intentionally getting in the slowest lane or longest line. Nevertheless, he puts his finger on a huge issue for Americans today. I know that much of what he addresses is an issue in my life for sure.
This problem is only going to get more pronounced for people in North America, and this book is a great introduction to the issue. The key is not necessarily to do everything he did but to follow his example in seeking to apprentice under Jesus and to learn how to take control back for your life. This book has something for everyone!
Rating: 4
