It’s no secret that I love rhythms. If you want to change your life, change your rhythms. Rhythms are the building blocks of habits, habits shape your life. For me, if I don’t have a rhythm built into my life for it, it’s not happening. It doesn’t matter how good-intentioned I am.
Jesus had rhythms. He had time alone with God, He had time with His disciples planning and preparing, and He had times of public ministry. Jesus showed us what the pace and rhythm of our lives should look like. He modeled for us in very practical ways what was important and what was not. So I ask myself “Why doesn’t my life look more like His?” One could argue that we live in a different day and time, a different culture than Jesus and that’s why. One could also argue that He didn’t have the same responsibilities as we do today. He didn’t have a spouse, kids, a job, a mortgage or rent to pay. But those are all just excuses and not what’s important about what Jesus was trying to teach us by the way He lived His life. We place so much focus on His message, which is super important, but I think we forget to pay attention to His way. The way He lived, loved, and led. The pace at which He lived, loved, and led. The rhythm of His life. I think it’s safe to say that Jesus lived slowly but loved big. Let’s take a look at a few things we might learn about Jesus’ way.
TIME AWAY WITH THE FATHER
If I’m being honest, this has been a growing desire in my heart. The older I get the more I have a longing to sneak away and be alone with my Heavenly Father.
Jesus often modeled for us two specific times that He would sneak away to spend time alone with God.
One, before a big decision. We find an example of this in Luke 6:12-13 immediately before He chooses the twelve apostles “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:”
I often think we rush into making big decisions because we don’t like the pace at which God is going. We so desperately don’t like to be uncomfortable that we want to hurry to make things better for ourselves. But I believe that God is asking us more than ever before to be willing to sit in the tension of not knowing. It’s in the not knowing and not having it all figured out that He strengthens our faith in Him. In this next season, we are going to need big, strong faith that He is in control. The only way we will survive the pressure is by spending lots of time in His presence. Jesus had a lot of pressure on Him, a lot of expectations, and well just the fate of the whole world on His shoulders. He knew that He had to be alone with His Father often to keep going. He needed His Father’s wisdom at every turn.
Two, after a time of teaching and miracles. We find an example of this in Mark 6:46 – 47 after the miracle of the fishes and loaves. “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.”
You may say, “I am not a minister, so this doesn’t apply to me” and to that I say, we are all ministers. Each of us pours out all day, every day. We give of ourselves to our families, at work, at the grocery store, and to our church community. Let’s think of ourselves as cars for a minute. We have to input gas into the car for it to keep running. As we go down the road the car slowly but surely outputs the gas.
Eventually, the gas runs out and we have to stop and refill. If we don’t stop to refill, our car ends up stuck on the side of the road somewhere and becomes useless to us. This is simple input vs. output. We are the car ladies, if we never stop to input, eventually we are going to run out of gas. You can’t refill while you are moving, you have to take the time to stop. Jesus showed us this, He had a lot of output. He often ministered for hours at a time, standing in the sun, with little food and water. He then would go away for a time so the Father could refill His tank. What’s interesting about this passage is that right after His alone time with God it’s recorded that He is found walking on the water to meet the Disciples. See the pattern, output, input, output.
SLOWING DOWN TO LOVE PEOPLE
Jesus moved slowly. He wanted to make sure the timing and strategy were just right. People often urged Him to go faster. Let the world know who you are, show them what you can do! But Jesus took His time. He took the time to stop and love people. He wasn’t in a hurry to preach in the synagogues. He taught in people's homes and open fields. There is not one account of Jesus telling someone “Not today, I’m busy”. He was the most sought out man in the community at that time and yet He always stopped for the one. He served each person individually. He cared for their needs, He listened to their stories, He answered their questions, and He healed them of their infirmities. You could say, “That was His job and mission”, but you know what? When we accept Jesus we take up His mission as our own. Our new obligation as believers is to share Christ with others.
Let’s be honest about where we are at in our Western culture. We are all about becoming more efficient, bigger is better, and what’s the fastest way I can get this done. Anyone can post on social media and reach at least 100 people in a matter of seconds. But is that really reaching them the way Jesus reached people? Is the way we think about sharing Jesus with others touching people’s hearts in the way that He did when He walked the earth? I don’t have anything against social media, I think it’s great, I mean, I am writing a blog here. But when was the last time you stopped in the grocery store to help someone? Took the time at school pick up to talk with another Mom? Stopped what you were doing at work and offered to pray for a co-worker? These things are slow, they take time, and they can get messy. But when you stop to think about the way Jesus did ministry it was all of those things. It was slow, it took time, and it definitely got messy. But that’s ok, we will survive! Do you want to know why? Because when we slow down and practice time away with the Father He gives us His strategy, and His heart, for His people.
John 15:9-17 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
In closing, I love what Joyce Meyer says, “everyone wants to live life in the fast lane, but that’s where all the accidents happen”.
This is something heavy on my heart this year. I feel God every day telling me to slow down. I can get anxious that I am not doing enough or moving fast enough. When this happens I feel the nudge of Holy Spirit reminding me to slow down. Our world is very messy but maybe that’s because Christians are moving too fast to stop and help clean it up.
Love you mucho! – PB
Catch the video blog on Youtube where Pastor Brittany shares about her journey with this topic.
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