Dr. Richard Swenson is a futurist who writes about the social and personal factors that afflict America. Dr. Swenson has diagnosed the problem of our day as “overload.” If you were to take an MRI of our lives, here is what you would see:
We have too many choices and decisions, too many activities and commitments, too much change creating too much stress. We have too much speed and hurry. We have too much technology, complexity, traffic, information, possessions, debt, expectations, advertisements, and media. We even have too much work.
And all God’s people said — “Amen!”
When we no longer have any margin in our lives, no space between our load and our limits, then we are in a constant state of overload. And that is not a healthy place to be. There is perhaps no greater barrier to spiritual transformation and cultural engagement today than the lack of time. If we are to be who God calls us to be, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.
God’s word instructs us “to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 ESV). Paul admonishes us to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16 ESV). We can have the best of intentions, but if there is no time to think, study, reflect, pray, cultivate relationships, or engage with others—then it simply won’t happen. It can’t.
John Ortberg writes, “For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.” Probably the most spiritual thing we can do is to start taking our time back by building some margin into our lives.
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