Ah! I’m really frustrated with myself this week. My body seems to be fighting some kind of head cold which is making me extra exhausted. My spiritual fervor is burning low—and I don’t like it! When I think of how worthy Christ is of my best devotion, it makes me ill to think that I’m giving Him a shoddy sacrifice. Oh wretched lazy soul, awaken! Christ is risen from the dead!
One of the most difficult things to sustain is a sense of urgency in our pursuit of God. To live urgently is to have a mind that feels compelled to do something of importance and to do it as soon as possible. It is an earnest persistent quality. And it is vital in our pursuit of God.
Some of the antonyms for the word “urgency” would be these: unimportant, insignificant, trifling, trivial, deferrable. It’s an attitude of carelessness. It’s easy for us to drift away from spiritual urgency and find ourselves just coasting along casually.
Urgency is determined by our perception of things. In times when urgency is low, we feel no danger, no need, nothing importantly pressing at all. But when we see things as desperate, we take on a mindset of urgent action. So the question is—are we seeing what God is seeing?
Brooklyn
When I was just starting out in ministry, I went on a little urban mission trip to New York City to serve at Brooklyn Teen Challenge. I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into but it seemed like a good idea. The first few days were pretty relaxing until the director, Chuck Zeirle, told me that we were going to Rikers Island prison to minister and that I would be giving the message to about 200 men who won’t be the typical Sunday crowd.
Not wanting to disappoint Chuck I said, “Yeah, sure, of course,” but inside I was thinking, “Oh dear God have mercy on me!” The assignment from Chuck sent me flying into a state of total urgency up until the point I preached. It was on my mind every waking moment. I prayed with fervor, partly because I wanted to impact these men in prison and partly because I was just terrified. Thinking about the desperation of the situation drove me to urgency.
Covid crisis
When Covid-19 first hit Rhode Island, where I live, my wife and I followed the numbers of cases and hospitalizations daily. I kept thinking about the people in the hospital and especially those on respirators fighting for their lives. I was visualizing nurses and doctors coming and going in full hazmat suits (like the ones they wore in the movie E.T.). I imagined how lonely the dear folks in the hospital rooms were since families were not allowed to even visit. I started thinking especially about those who were overwhelmed with fear. As I perceived these things it created an urgency and desperation in prayer. I found myself crying out for the people who would die and face God that day, that they would be prepared. That they would be at peace with God and be spared from hell. Setting my mind on the dire situation produced urgency.
Urgency in Scripture
This spiritual urgency comes out in many places in the Scriptures like the intercession of Moses, the anguish of Nehemiah, and the cries of David. We hear it in Isaiah as he prayed, “Rend the heavens and come down!” We see it in Jesus in the Garden, just days before being crucified, as he prayed so earnestly that He sweat great drops of blood. In the days of Joel the condition of things was so desperate that Joel called the people to urgent prayer—
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Consecrate the
congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom
leave his room, and
the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" — Joel 2:15-17
The reality
Do we have a sense of urgency? Is there anything we are forgetting to look at that might give us an urgency? Is everything in the world going well? What would Jesus say if He walked the earth today?
The reality is that we are in a great spiritual conflict. People around us are either on the solid ground of Christ, and prepared for Judgment Day, or, they are dead in sin and not at all ready for eternity. Satan and his evil forces of darkness tirelessly work day and night with urgency to drag as many to hell with them as possible. They maintain steady red hot fervor in their efforts to deceive as many as possible. Billions of people from every single nation around the world are spiritually lost today and need the salvation of Christ. Jesus said,
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. — Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus was telling us here that many will take the path that leads to eternal hell. People we know and love are in danger. They are headed off a cliff into the outer darkness of separation from God. They are oblivious to the fact that the only thing that keeps them from falling into hell is the sheer mercy of God and His extended grace.
Earth is passing
We focus so much on the here and now. Everything down here seems so important. Humans are consumed with what they're going to eat, what they’re going to wear, who they’ll marry, where they’ll live, how to make money, what Netflix show to watch next, which football team will win the Super Bowl. But all this will end. Life will end. All humans have an expiration date when they will breathe their last breath—and, then, they will stand before the blinding holy light of Jesus Christ the Living God.
Multitudes are not ready for that and aren’t even concerned about it. Selah.
4320 hours to live
We have plenty of reasons to be urgent if we will open our eyes. I was daydreaming this morning and imagining what I would do if I was given 6 months to live. That’s 180 days, 4320 hours. And then—“game over.” I would be so urgent! I’d get up early every day. I’d fast as much as possible. I would give more money to the church, to missions and to the global poor. I would consume the Word of God and spend myself in prayer. I’d share the Gospel more boldly. Knowing the time is short I would urgently cry day and night for those I know who are lost. I’d aim to preach in as many churches as I could and I’d plead with them to live urgently and pray desperately.
Here’s the thing. Whether we have 6 months, 6 years or 60 years left in these earthly bodies, the time is short. The Bible in fact calls the whole of life a “brief mist.” We appear for a little while and then vanish. As humans we have a terrible tendency to put important things off till a better time. But this is our life and it is passing away. Pause and listen to yourself breathe three times. You are three breathes closer to eternity. This is happening. We are racing toward the end. Oh that we would seize each day as a gift and squeeze the honey out of it. Consider the urgency Paul the Apostle calls us to—
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. — 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
In the strongest possible way Paul was telling us to hold this present life very loosely because it will soon pass. He’s saying the time is short so don’t get attached, don’t get caught up with this present world, don’t miss the big picture. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away.”
It doesn’t mean we should be careless about our lives. No! The opposite. We should make the most of the days we have. We should have our eyes wide open and realize multitudes around us are perishing and our prayers and our labors can make a difference.
What Jesus sees
When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." — Matthew 9:36-38
Can you see the anguish and urgency of our Lord Jesus? He was not casual about the souls of people. He spent Himself in prayer and spreading the Gospel. He gave Himself till His last breath. Even on the cross He was ministering to those around Him. He cried, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” as one last tiny prayer and sermon to the sinners within earshot.
It’s not time to shrink back. It’s not time to let up, shut up or lighten up. It’s not time to get lazy, to get mopey or to get sour. It’s not time to waste time. It’s not time to slow down, to lay down or to fall down. It’s not time to drift away, fade away or turn away. It is time to seek the Lord God with all our hearts in view of the urgency of so many who are not ready to stand before the Great Judge. While people have breath in their lungs there is still time. May we use the time wisely.
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