Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Hurry Takes From You | New Testament | Luke 5

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

When you squeeze more into your schedule, what gets squeezed out? In today's episode, Patrick looks at Luke 5 to reflect on what forms of hurry and busyness you might need to cut out. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Do you know the one resource that everybody has the exact same amounts of? It doesn't matter how poor you are or how rich you are. It doesn't matter how educated you are. It doesn't matter your nationality, your ethnicity. None of those things change it. Do you know what that one resource is? Time. There's no exceptions. We all get 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and 365 days in a year. We all get the exact same amount of time. And I don't care who you are. You probably don't feel like you've got enough of this particular resource. Speaking for myself, I can't count the number of times I found myself saying, I just wish I had

one or two more hours. I wish I just had one more day. And on and on it goes. Why? What's because I'm always in a hurry? Because life feels stretched to the limit. because if I don't get this done right now, who will, but I don't have time to finish it. The last answer cuts to the heart of it, doesn't it? Why am I always in an anxious hurry? Why do I always need more time? Because I think that I'm sovereign over my life. Because I believe that I'm responsible for everything and everyone around me

because I fear that letting go of my control over this thing or that thing might mean I lose it. Or maybe I'll lose wealth or opportunity or status or relational capital. whatever it is that I want, I need more time because deep down, I think I ought to be more like the only being who had an infinite amount of time. I think I should be like God. After all, God exists outside of time. Time is no limitation to him. But for some crazy reason, he decided to make his image bearers, humans like you and me, he decided to make us bound by time, bound by limits, bound by a need to rest, bound by the reality that we don't control everything, not even everything. in our own lives.

But if you're anything like me, you're not very good at accepting those limits. You're always looking for life hacks to maximize your time, always trying to squeeze in a little more than you really can. And of course, the question becomes what gets squeezed out? For me, the sad but true answer is easy. Prayer. It shouldn't be surprising. The more I trick myself into believing that I control my reality and that I'm responsible

for controlling every aspect of my day, the less I really feel a need for the one who is actually sovereign and responsible for all things, which leads me to one of the most convicting passages in all of Luke. It's a passage that I'm not even sure Luke wrote to convict people, but I know it convicts me. Luke chapter 5 verse 15. The news about Jesus spread all the more so that the crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Do you find this verse is mind blowing? I do for a few reasons. First, God became human. That means God took on our human limitations. Jesus only had 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 365 days in a year. But second,

Jesus had serious demands on his time. He was the world's greatest teacher and healer. Everybody wanted a slice of Jesus's time. If I feel like I need an extra hour or day, if I feel like I'm always in a hurry, if I feel like my task list and responsibilities out-exper, the hours that I actually have, how much more so did Jesus? According to this verse, the crowds didn't care much that Jesus shared their limitations. They just kept coming. And given that Jesus was God himself, it had to be tempting to think that since he really is in control of reality, he didn't really need to spend much time in prayer, which leads to the most shocking part of this passage. In fact, I'll just read it again for good measure. Verse 16, but Jesus often

withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Jesus, God incarnate, needed to pray. Jesus, the one who had the power to heal with a touch, with a word, with a thought, needed to pray often. Just let that settle in. Jesus, the one who had the crowds constantly clamoring for his time, often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. If Jesus needed to pray often, how much more so do I need?

prayer in my life. If Jesus needed to come before the father, who is sovereign over reality, to hear from his father, to lay his concerns before his father, to worship his father, to be conformed to his father, how much more do I need that? If Jesus, who had crowds of people constantly clamoring for his attention, knew that he needed to make time for prayer, how much more so do I? Do you have time for prayer in your life? Or have you bought into the lie that you're just too busy, that there's just too much that you're responsible for, that there's too many people who need your attention instead of God, co-workers, bosses, spouses, children.

Just remember, even Jesus, who certainly had more responsibility than any of us. Even Jesus needed prayer. Even Jesus, who was God incarnate, needed prayer. So here's my question. And it's the question I've been asking myself, what forms of hurry, busyness, and distraction?

Do I need to eliminate? from my life. Do I need to minimize in my life? The answer to that question is different for everyone, but let me share some of the things that I've been imperfectly doing. I've started limiting email. I try to set two times a day that I check it. I took email off my phone and try my best to never check it after five o'clock. And despite my fears that my work would fall apart, quite the opposite has happened. I've become more productive and I've found short moments throughout my day to pray where I would have been checking my email. A friend of mine even put his Bible app on his phone where his email used to be.

So by muscle memory, he's accidentally clicking on the Bible app to read the Bible and pray instead of reading his email. Here's another example. I've limited the amount of national news media that I read, listen to, or watch. Whether it's politics or sports or entertainment, you would be shocked how much time you and I both waste learning about stuff that changes nothing in our day-to-day lives. again, that creates space for prayer. I've started to try to let my kids play alone.

Okay, I know this is crazy, but if you let your children, no matter how old they are, play alone enough, they learn how to entertain themselves. Most of my Bible reading and prayer happens with two little kids playing around right in front of me. How is God calling you to find time for prayer? For you to find time to admit that you aren't in control of it all and that the world will function without your constant contact and input. Have you set aside time to lay down your life and fears and needs before Jesus, for you to enter into His presence to be shaped by Him? If you're feeling the challenge of this passage, just like I do, I would recommend taking right now to pray and say,

Jesus, help me to find ways to eliminate hurry and to create space to be with you. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.