Since Comer is a Christian pastor, many of his reflections derive from the inspiration of his faith, which is centered on the person of Jesus Christ. In The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Jesus is presented both as a historical figure and as the spiritual focus of the life of faith. While Comer clearly believes classic Christian doctrines about Jesus, such as his death for humanity’s sins and his resurrection from the dead, Comer’s focus in this book is on Jesus’s life and teachings. Comer frequently speaks of Jesus as his “rabbi,” and of himself as an “apprentice” of Jesus, learning the right way to live from observing the pattern of his master’s life. As such, certain historical details of Jesus’s life are frequently mentioned, particularly his itinerant ministry of teaching and healing in the provinces of Galilee and Judea (modern Israel) in the first century CE. 

Comer presents Jesus as the wisest of teachers, someone who not only gives good advice, but who actually bears the remedy for our souls’ afflictions. As such, while traditional Christian claims regarding the divinity of Jesus are not stressed in the book, they nonetheless underlie much of the way the content is presented. The implication of Comer’s presentation is that readers should pay heed to Jesus’s teachings on time, money, relationships, and life because he knows how humanity was made, how the universe works, and what we really need to be able to thrive in this life, all knowledge that can only derive from his divinity. Somewhat atypically, however, Comer does not present following Jesus in the familiar verbiage of faith, believing, and salvation, but of apprenticing oneself to Jesus’s way of life—following him, quite literally, in the way he practiced daily life with his original community of disciples in ancient Galilee and Judea.

John Ortberg is a prominent Christian pastor, speaker, and author. Until 2020, he was the pastor of Menlo Church (previously Menlo Park Presbyterian Church) in Menlo Park, California, an evangelical megachurch. 

Ortberg earned graduate and doctoral degrees from Fuller Seminary and pastored several churches in California before moving to Illinois to join the pastoral team at the most influential American megachurch at the time, Willow Creek Community Church. From there, he took his position at Menlo Park in 2003, concurrently with finding growing success in his writing. He is the author of several notable books of Christian spirituality, including The Life You’ve Always Wanted (1997) and If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat (2001). After being a leading voice in the evangelical movement and in the developing interest in spiritual formation, Ortberg resigned from his ministry in 2020 under the shadow of allegations of mismanaging a situation at his church, specifically with regard to his adult son’s participation in ministries which may have put minors at risk of improper behavior and sexual abuse. 

Comer’s many references to Ortberg in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (published before Ortberg’s resignation in 2020) present him as a friend and mentor. While Comer raves about Ortberg’s knowledge, wisdom, and insight, he does not lavish attention on Ortberg’s ministry credentials so much as on the personal impact which Ortberg has had on Comer’s own situation. Comer relates that he frequently talks with Ortberg, seeking his counsel regularly, just as Ortberg for years sought the counsel of another significant Christian figure, Dallas Willard.

“Sabbath” refers to a Jewish practice of taking the seventh day as a day of rest, consecrated to God. The observance of Sabbath is founded on the laws of Moses in the Bible, included as one of the Ten Commandments and rooted in the creation narratives, in which God himself was said to have rested on the seventh day of creation. While the mandatory practice of a Sabbath rest is not universally observed by Christians, Comer regards it as a natural and healthy spiritual practice, an act of fashioning one’s life after the pattern of Jesus and of living in accordance with the way God created the universe. The observance of Sabbath is one of four practices of Jesus which Comer recommends as an antidote against hurry.

“Simplicity” is another of the four practices of Jesus which Comer recommends to his readers. “Simplicity” refers to a lifestyle in which one chooses to live below one’s means, reducing the glut of possessions cluttering up one’s life. More to the point, it is a way of living that prioritizes spending according to one’s deepest values, and foregoing purchases which do not align with those values. For followers of Jesus, then, the practice of simplicity would lead to a deemphasis on possessions and greater attention given to the cultivation of love, peace, and joy in one’s life. Comer regards simplicity as synonymous with the contemporary self-help movement of minimalism.

A “spiritual discipline” is a traditional practice in Christian spirituality, meant to grow the believer into greater maturity in their relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines often include various forms of prayer, fasting, Bible study, and worship. Comer prefers to focus on those disciplines which are evident in Jesus’s life, and so refers to them as practices of Jesus, with an emphasis on silence and solitude, the Sabbath, simplicity, and habits that serve to slow the pace of one’s life, leading to the ability to be fully present in each moment.

Dallas Willard, who passed away in 2013, was a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California (USC) and a prominent writer in the spiritual formation movement within American evangelical Christianity. His work in academic philosophy focused on epistemology and phenomenology, with a specific focus on the contributions of the Austrian German philosopher Edmund Husserl. He earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin and spent most of his academic career teaching and writing in southern California. 

In addition to his contributions to philosophy, he was an active writer on issues of Christian spirituality, becoming known as a leading figure, alongside writers like Eugene Peterson and Richard Foster, on the topic of spiritual formation. His books include influential titles like The Divine Conspiracy (1998) and Renovation of the Heart (2002), both of which were recognized with awards from Christianity Today. He also wrote on the “spiritual disciplines” (most notably in a 1988 book titled The Spirit of the Disciplines), including material which directly informs and inspires some of Comer’s content on the spiritual disciplines in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. 

Willard’s influence on Comer comes partly through John Ortberg, who sought counsel from Willard just as Comer sought counsel from Ortberg. An interaction in one of the conversations between Ortberg and Willard provided the inspiration for Comer’s book title.