A Sense of Urgency

Luke 12:35-38
Jesus said to his disciples, "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves."

The opening sentence of this passage catches my attention: "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;” This sentence along with another: “Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert…” Convey a sense of urgency. I think that urgency has become something that is lost in our day and age. For most people, urgency no longer has any meaning because everything is now urgent. We have to answer the cell phone. We have to check email and respond. We have to answer the phone at dinner time. We have to…We have to… We have to.

I a world in which we feel we have to respond to each and everything, then nothing truly takes on a sense of urgency. When we are going 24/7/365 and there is no down time, then we might just miss the sense of urgency that comes from the call of the Spirit within our lives. In the Old Testament, there are several times that the voice of the Spirit is referred to as “a still small voice.” In most of our lives, we don’t hear still, small voices because there are so many busy and loud voices seeking our time and attention.

How busy is your life? Are you vigilant and ready for action or are you always acting at full throttle. There is a balance that we need to achieve in our relationship with God. Some of us need to get more alert and some of us need to slow down and listen. Which one are you?