Despite being happy to stride out when
taking a walk, I find that everybody seems to pass me and then
disappear into the distance. Even petite females who might be
expected to have short strides and not cover the ground very quickly
appear to zoom ahead. Am I a slowcoach – or is the pace of my life
simply rather leisurely?
With this puzzle in mind, I was
interested to read a recent article in Radio Bible Class’s “Our
Daily Bread” notes. “According to a study measuring the pace of
life of cities in 32 countries, people in the biggest hurry live here
in Singapore,” writes Poh Fang Chia. “We walk 60 feet in 10:55
seconds, compared to 12:00 seconds for New Yorkers and 31:60 seconds
for those living in the African city of Blantyre, Malawi.” [If my
walking speed is 3 mph, I surely ought to cover 60 feet in a
respectable 13.6 seconds.]
“But regardless of where you live,
the study shows that walking speeds have increased by an average of
10 percent in the past 20 years. And if walking speed is any
indicator for the pace of life, we are certainly much busier than
before.”
The article gave me pause for thought.
Maybe people with a faster-paced lifestyle get more done. I am
certainly amazed at the work rate of some of my friends, including
those much older than I. The amount of positive good that people like
that can generate is something to be admired. I think to myself that
I wouldn’t last five minutes if I had to live at their rate, and
therefore will never benefit the human race the way they do.
Sometimes I have indeed been required
to speed up. Once when I was between churches I registered with an
agency that sent me out to do manual work. Supervisors taught me how
to carry out tasks more efficiently in order to cut out unnecessary
movements. For a while it seemed to bring benefits at home – I
found myself getting through more housework and doing so more
quickly. Eventually, though, I lapsed back into my old rather
leisurely ways.
When I see people going down with
exhaustion I don’t think it’s such a bad idea to be a bit on the
slow side. Maybe this is the story of the tortoise and the hare all
over again, with a new twist. The hare is so keen that he runs out of
steam. The tortoise eventually succeeds in reaching the finishing
line on his own.
Some object that it is better to burn
out than to rust out. There may well be times when Christians need to
live and work flat out regardless of their health. The Protestant
Reformation was possibly one of those times. A rare window had opened
up for teaching and preaching in line with the new discovery of
justification by faith alone. Some very frail saints pushed
themselves hard to promote this revolutionary truth while the
opportunity existed. But generally speaking Christianity is a life to
be lived in the long run. The Lord Jesus declared, “ … the one
who endures to the end will be saved” (see Matthew 24:12-13).
Poh Fang Chia challenges us, “Are you
caught up in the frenzy of a busy life? Pause and consider Jesus’
words to Martha: ‘You are worried and troubled about many things.
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which
will not be taken away from her’ (Luke 10:41-42).
“Notice Jesus’ gentle words. He
didn’t rebuke Martha for wanting to be a good host but rather
reminded her about her priorities. Martha had allowed the importance
of her tasks to get out of proportion. And, in the process, she was
so busy doing good that she didn’t take time to sit at Jesus’
feet.
“In our drive to be productive for
the Lord, let’s remember the one thing worth being concerned
about—enjoying time with our Savior.”
And in case we are still tempted to
spend less time with the Lord because we are too busy about His work,
the thought at the end of the article brings us up short: “Jesus
longs for our fellowship even more than we long for His.”
