The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world
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Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis: “Hint: The Solution Isn’t More Time”
With Chapter 4, Comer moves to Part 2 of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, in which he devotes his attention to solutions. As the chapter title indicates, he immediately sets out to debunk the notion behind the common complaint by over-busy people: Namely, that what we really need is more time to get things done.
Most people afflicted by the disease of hurry would not use extra time for deep renewal and rest; they would reflexively fill it with more tasks and projects like the ones that already consume all their time. For most people, having more time would not alleviate the problem, but compound it, because the root problem is not the amount of time we have available but our own disposition toward how we use that time. The solution, Comer writes, is not more time, but rather “to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters” (62).
Part of the problem behind contemporary society’s preoccupation with hurry is the unspoken idea that we should be able to do it all. This is false, Comer says. The truth is that we all have limitations of various kinds which prevent us from doing many of those things which we might want to do. These limitations relate to our bodies, minds, gifts, personalities, families of origin, socioeconomic status, education, and so on. Rather than bemoan these limitations or pretend they don’t exist, Comer advises his readers to embrace them. There is freedom, he notes, in understanding that we simply can’t do it all. Furthermore, he holds that it is often precisely in our limitations—in our finite nature and the specificity of our place and time—where we can encounter God’s call on our lives. We can either choose to pretend we have no limitations and an infinite amount of time, and in so doing, waste a great deal of it, or we can embrace the fact that our time and abilities are limited, and so devote those limited resources to the things that really matter in life.
In this section, Comer again urges readers to Live in the Present Moment and to Avoid the Trap of a Hurried Lifestyle. He weaves these ideas through his conversational style, continuing to make frequent use of quotes. While the dangers of a hurried lifestyle are exhaustively described throughout this chapter, Comer is also in the process of shifting his focus from those dangers to their solutions, the first of which is to acknowledge certain hard truths about ourselves, such as our finite nature and the limitations that come with it. Essentially, then, one of the dangers of a hurried lifestyle is that we will remain unaware of the truth about ourselves. This factor leads Comer once again to underscore the importance of living in the present moment, which can be achieved by embracing one’s limitations. When we accept the hard truths about our limited nature, we can let go of our unhealthy expectations of what we can do with our time, and this realization allows people to enjoy the present moment in an entirely new way.
Chapter Lessons:
- People believe they need more time to get things done, but having more time would not solve the issue of hurry and busyness.
- Hurried people who suddenly have more time will only fill the gaps in their schedule with more tasks and projects.
- To avoid the trap of being constantly busy, acknowledge the impossibility of achieving every single goal.
- Accepting one’s limitations is an important step toward more fully appreciating the present moment.
Reflection Questions:
- When you suddenly find yourself with unscheduled time, how do you react? Do you stop to appreciate the moment, or do you rush to fill it with new activities?
- What daily habits tend to cause you to detach from the present?
Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis: “The Secret of the Easy Yoke”
In his proposed solution to the disease of hurry, Comer now comes to his central thesis, contending that the ultimate answer is found in following the way of Jesus. Comer presents Jesus in his role as a wandering Jewish rabbi, a teacher who would gather a community of talmidim (traditionally translated as “disciples”) around him, to learn from his teachings and follow his way of life. Comer, following the teaching of Dallas Willard, suggests that a better translation of the idea behind the word talmidim would be “apprentices,” which underscores the fact that Jesus’s followers were not just meant to learn spiritual doctrines from his teachings, but to learn how to live and act in the events of one’s daily life.
Comer summarizes the goal of being an apprentice of Jesus in three steps: “1. Be with Jesus. 2. Become like Jesus. 3. Do what he would do if he were you” (77). Rather than describing the traditional Christian idea of “salvation” as simply a spiritual transformation, Comer suggests that it ought to be read as a healing of one’s whole self, which necessarily includes all the practical realities of daily life.
Comer returns to Matthew 11:28-30, the Bible passage that frames much of the exposition in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. In this passage, Jesus presents his invitation to his hearers to come, to learn from him, and to take up his “easy yoke.” Comer quotes a paraphrase of this passage by the Christian writer Eugene Peterson, who phrases the invitation as: “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” (79).
In essence, the invitation to learn from Jesus is a call not just to believe in him, but to learn how to live from his example. As Comer puts it, “If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus” (82). Being an apprentice of Jesus is thus not only a matter of holding a certain theology, but of living in a certain way. The emphasis of the Bible passage on the reality of a “yoke” suggests that there is no promise of a perfect, untroubled life for anyone in this world, but there is a choice between whether we choose the light yoke of Jesus’s way or the heavy yoke of our own flailing attempts at success and productivity.
This chapter represents the first substantial treatment of one of Comer’s main themes, that of apprenticeship to Jesus. He introduces this idea as an alternative translation of the common biblical term “disciple,” and in so doing, opens his book up to a wider span of readers than just a Christian audience. For his non-Christian readers, Comer strives to present Jesus in terms they can understand, depicting Jesus as a teacher who knows the right way to live. For his Christian readers, Comer does not deny any of the core theological and doctrinal teachings about Jesus’s identity and the spiritual elements of the salvation God offers; rather, he presents the traditional Christian view as one in which a focus on certain themes has prevented many people from appreciating the presence of other important themes, and he urges readers to Follow a Daily Apprenticeship to Jesus. Comer thus attempts to speak to all members of his potential audience, inviting them to consider the significance of the way of Jesus as something more than just a set of beliefs, but as a practical way to live in the world.
Comer’s use of a single Bible passage as the foundation for his exposition, both in this chapter and in the book as a whole, speaks to his identity as a pastor and the sermon-like structure with which he writes. While Part 1 served as an introduction to the book’s “sermon,” presenting the main problem and inviting the audience to recognize their own spiritual needs, Part 2 serves as an exegetical study of the Bible passage being analyzed, which will ultimately lead to the practical applications offered in Part 3.
Chapter Lessons:
- In Comer’s view, the best way to eliminate hurry is to embrace a lifestyle that emulates Jesus’s own way of living.
- True “salvation” involves healing the entire self, including one’s approach to daily life.
- Every life will have challenges, but accepting the “easy yoke” of Jesus’s guidance will improve matters immensely.
- Jesus offers his followers both a set of viable beliefs and a better way to live.
Reflection Questions:
- If you are a Christian, how did you view Comer’s interpretation of Matthew 11:28-30?
- If you are not a Christian, what aspects of Comer’s recommendations resonate most strongly with your own worldview?
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis: “What We’re Really Talking About Is a Rule of Life”
In the final chapter of Part 2, Comer begins to shift from framing the theory of a solution to dealing with its practical elements. He does this by analyzing the lifestyle of Jesus as portrayed in the gospel accounts of the Bible. If we are to learn from Jesus and take up his “easy yoke,” as Matthew 11:28-30 says, then we need to know how he lived his daily life.
Comer refers to several gospel stories in the course of making his first point: Jesus was really never in a hurry, even when seemingly urgent circumstances surrounded him. Rather than portraying Jesus as constantly rushing around, the gospels tell stories of him devoting time to sit and share meals with people, both strangers and friends, time to sleep, time to get away from the crowds and rest, and time to spend with God in prayer.
Comer suggests that once we have a grasp of how Jesus lived, we can move to the next step: asking the question, “How would Jesus live if he were me?” (93). One must apply Jesus’s manner of life to the circumstances, roles, and obligations of one’s own life. To do this, Comer advises his readers to consider making a “rule of life”—“a schedule and set of practices to order your life around the way of Jesus in community” (94). This idea comes from the monastic tradition within Christianity, but has often been applied by laypeople as well. The “rule” in a rule of life refers not to a list of what one can and cannot do, but rather to the Latin term regula, which suggests a straight piece of wood, such as was often used to help growing plants in a garden or vineyard. A rule of life thus gives one a structure upon which to grow—spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
Comer notes that while a rule of life will necessarily include a set of actions to undertake, they are not simply an addition onto an already-too-full schedule. Rather, they are meant to be the support structure upon which all the rest of that schedule is built, and Comer believes that most readers actually have the time to devote to just such a structure, underscoring again his belief that the problem is not with the amount of time we have, but with the unhealthy and frivolous ways we have come to use it.
Having introduced both the problem of hurry in Part 1 and the theoretical foundations of a solution in Part 2, Comer now begins his transition to the practical application he suggests, a shift already seen in the practical nature of his advice in this chapter. In this chapter, Comer primarily urges readers to Follow a Daily Apprenticeship to Jesus. Comer reemphasizes the point that being an apprentice to Jesus is not merely a matter of what one believes, but of what one puts into practice in one’s daily life. Further, Comer develops the theme in order to apply it to each reader’s place in life. Following Jesus as his apprentice is not a matter of mimicry, of adopting the cultural habits of a wandering first-century Jewish rabbi, but of applying the manner of Jesus’s life to one’s own circumstances. Thus the question is not (as the popular Christian slogan of the late 20th century had it): What would Jesus do? Rather, it is “how would Jesus live if he were me?” (93).
Chapter Lessons:
- Emulate Jesus’s own lack of hurry and willingness to slow down and spend time with people on a daily basis.
- Use Jesus’s teachings to create a “rule of life” so that you may attain spiritual and emotional growth.
- Use your time wisely rather than wasting it on unimportant pursuits.
- Be a true apprentice to Jesus by putting his examples into daily practice.
Reflection Questions:
- For Christian readers, what are three concrete ways that you might follow an apprenticeship to Jesus in your own life?
- For non-Christian readers, how might adopting a specific “rule of life” improve your use of time?
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