Holy, not Hurried
"So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days..." John 11:6
There is a hurry woven into modern life that we barely even notice anymore.
We pay extra for expedited shipping because two days feels unbearable. We sigh at the grocery store line with only two people in it. We speed around school buses the second the stop sign folds away. We microwave our food, skim instead of read, multitask through conversations, and call it productivity.
We are always moving.
Always rushing.
Always trying to arrive at the next thing before we’ve even fully lived the current one.
And somewhere along the way, hurry became normal.
For the past year, I’ve been trying to practice a less hurried life.
Not laziness. Not apathy. Not moving at the pace of the world’s slowest walker (still an issue for me, honestly, like please walk faster people).
Just… less hurry.
Driving the speed limit with the windows down. Eating slower. Choosing the longer grocery line sometimes. Reading instead of scrolling. Going for walks without needing a destination. Letting conversations breathe instead of rushing to the next task.
At first, it felt wildly inefficient.
Now, it feels holy. (I am not perfect at it by any means. I battle it every. day.).
Because when I read Scripture, I notice something striking:
Jesus was never in a hurry.
Intentional? Absolutely.
Purposeful? Completely.
But hurried? Never.
He walked instead of sprinted. He stopped for people. He lingered at tables with friends. He withdrew for hours of prayer. He allowed interruptions. He moved as though every moment mattered — because it did.
In Mark 1:35, before dawn even broke, Jesus went away to pray. Before the crowds. Before the demands. Before the noise.
In Matthew 9, while on His way somewhere else entirely, Jesus stopped for the bleeding woman. In the middle of urgency, He paused for one hurting person. (Matthew 9:20,22).
And in John 11, after hearing Lazarus was sick, Jesus did something that feels almost confusing to our hurried minds: He stayed where He was two more days! (John 11:1-7).
He was never rushed by panic. Never pressured by urgency. Never manipulated by the world’s timeline.
Even in delay, He was deliberate.
Meanwhile, we often live like speed itself is godliness.
We even do it with things that are not inherently bad — church activities, devotionals, prayer. Like somehow we are more valuable to God if we can just cram more “Christian” into our days.
But hurry creates chaos in the soul.
It clouds our ability to truly notice people. To hear God. To feel gratitude. To recognize divine appointments hidden inside ordinary days.
Sometimes I wonder how many holy moments we miss because we were too rushed to see them.
The enemy does not always need to destroy us dramatically. Sometimes distraction is enough. Sometimes all he has to do is keep us spiritually breathless. In a never-ending spiritual sprint.
Always consuming. Always scrolling. Always late. (Make that make sense).
Always hurrying past the very things God placed in front of us.
Maybe holiness looks slower than we expected.
Maybe sanctification is found not only in big spiritual moments, but in learning how to live unhurried in a frantic world. That is when the Spirit speaks in His gentle whisper to our souls.
Not lazy. Not passive. Just present.
Because the Kingdom of God has never operated according to the pace of our culture. (Praise the Lord).
“For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3
What if instead of seeking speed, we sought sanctification?
Instead of productivity, purpose?
Instead of hurry, holiness?
Jesus never hurried His way through a single moment.
Maybe we shouldn’t either.
**I highly recommend The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer if you have not read it… or I recommend re-reading it every few months if you have read it.
@bytaylormcgee
