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“Applying the Brakes (Part Two)”
What to Do When You're Running on Empty
IPC, October 18, 2009

We’ve been in a series about “Running on Empty” and we began talking about “slowing down” last week.  Rachel and I plan a slow down right after 2^nd worship today, as we head out for the Redneck Riviera (the Alabama Gulf Coast) for the week.  As I said a couple of weeks ago, a vacation doesn’t necessarily handle your stress because you may be able to leave work, but you can’t leave your mind in Atlanta.  “Wherever you are—there you are!”  Before we finish the message on “Applying the Brakes” let me give a brief review.  We first looked at the effects of a hurried lifestyle: 

• You Feel More Stress. (Ecc. 5:3)

• You Lose Your Joy. (Job 9:25)

• You’re Less Productive. (Prov. 21:5)

• You Can’t Hear God. (Ps. 46:10)

There are five strategies in Scripture for slowing down that I want to share.  We looked at the first two last week, which are learning contentment and listen before speaking. 

Ways to Slow Your Pace:

1. Learn Contentment.

Paul talked about the positive aspects of contentment in I Tim. 6:6-7, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world & we cannot take anything out of the world.  But if we have food & clothing, with these we will be content.”  He warns his readers not to get fixated on accumulating things.  Life is much more than stuff. 

Our culture teaches this myth that having more will make us happier.  However, the writer of Proverbs (23:4) tells us: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.”  Culture tries to convince us that doing more will make us more worthy.  This myth tries to convince me that doing more will make me more important.  The busier I am, the more important I am.  Ecclesiastes 4:6 supports a simple lifestyle.  Our culture also teaches that life is competitive so we must live in competition with other people.  Proverbs 14:30 encourages us to have a “tranquil heart.”   The first strategy we looked at has to do with our heart.  The second strategy, though, focuses on our mouths: 

2. You Must Listen Before Speaking.

Of course, James 1:19 is a hallmark verse for this strategy. “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  Ecclesiastes 5:2 encourages us to think before speaking.  Isn’t that a novel thought?  Some of us have short fuses and blow up quickly.  We talked about people being either skunks or turtles.  Those who stink up the place with their anger, and those who hide in a shell. 

That’s a review of last week’s message in four minutes.  Let’s look at three more strategies that may help us apply the brakes in our lives. 

3. Obey the Fourth Commandment.

We know that before there was a David Letterman Show, God invented the Top Ten List.  Moses brought them down from Mt. Sinai in the form of the Ten Commandments.  (Wouldn’t it be awesome that when we get to heaven Moses actually does look like Charlton Heston?)  One of the Big 10 talks about rest. 

Exodus 20:9-10a “Six days you shall labor, & do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”  God wants you to take a day off every week.  That is called the Sabbath.  It literally means “day of rest.”  God wants us to do this one day out of seven.  God modeled this for us after Creation, when Genesis tells us that He rested on the seventh day.  Was God tired?  God never gets tired, but He showed us by example. 

The day is not important. Since I work on Sunday, I take Friday as my day off.  I try to do that regularly.  When I was in youth work, I didn’t always take my off day.  I thought that what I was doing was too important, but you know what happened.  I became more irritated with my family.  I was more tired.  I ended up not being very productive.  It was pretty prideful of me to think that what I was doing at that moment was more important than listening to what God said about how He made me.  He wants us to take a break…one day out of seven.   

What do I do on my Sabbath?  Well, - to be honest, it’s usually a day when I catch up on things that need doing around the house.  Some of you have done this.  You’re actually looking forward to getting back to work on Monday so you can rest from all the “rest” you were supposed to get over the weekend.   

There are three things that a Sabbath Day should do for you.

• I rest my body.  It’s hard for some people to rest.  When we’re at work, we’re pumping adrenaline into our bodies so it feels strange to rest.  In your car, if the thermostat needle gets over into the red zone, you would stop driving because you know that the engine could get damaged.  If we don’t rest and keep pumping adrenalin into our bodies every day and fail to rest, our engine is going to explode somehow. 

I recently related that for a period of time after the French Revolution, the nation decided not to take Sunday off any longer, thinking they would get more done.  They re-instated it shortly thereafter as a day of rest, because the health of the entire nation was failing.  You need rest.  Now, if you don’t slow down voluntarily, circumstances may force you to slow down.   

• I recharge my emotions.       

Do things like being quiet.  Reconnect in relationships, just being with other people.  Get involved in a recreation that rejuvenates you.  I’m not talking about competitive recreation.  Golf may rejuvenate you if you truly enjoy the game, but many guys are so competitive, they end up getting angry with the person playing with them.   

I like to work in my yard with plants.  I can enjoy pulling a few weeds or planting a bush or two, but I often find myself taking on the entire backyard.  I’m going to finish everything.  I’m no longer resting.  Instead, I’m working.  We should do stuff that rejuvenates us.           

• I refocus my spirit.

Now that is worship.  You don’t take a day off from God.  You worship because worship puts life into perspective.  Your life gets into perspective when you remember how great God really is.  Folks, if you are too busy for God, then you are too busy!  God put us on this earth to know Him and to make Him known to others.  But we get so busy with our “To Do” lists, that we forget that.   

I would encourage you to not call your day off a day off.  Call it your Sabbath.  If you call it a day off, you may be tempted to cheat on it and work through it.  If you call it your Sabbath you may be more apt to keep it. 

What I am talking about is not optional, as far as God is concerned.  It’s right up there with don’t commit adultery and murder.  But we’re often guilty of working right through the weekend.  We have to take time off to rest our bodies, to recharge our emotions and to refocus our spirits by focusing on God.   

Like I said, Friday is my day off.   I do my best to not be available that day.  A pastor took his day off and one of his church members got mad at him because he said he tried to call the pastor several times on his day off and couldn’t get a hold of him.  The pastor explained that it was his day off.  The member muttered, “Well, the devil doesn’t take a day off,” to which the pastor replied, “You’re right.  And if I didn’t take a day off, I’d be just like the devil.”  Jesus taught us to move forward and move back.  Advance and retreat.  He would have intense times of ministry and then He’d take time off. 

What we are talking about are counter-culture moves.  We need to learn contentment.  We need to get out of the rat race, because even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.  We need to learn contentment.  We slow down when we talk.  We stop interrupting and let other folks finish their thoughts.  And we obey the fourth commandment.  One day every seven days, I take off to rest my body, recharge my emotions and refocus my spirit.  The fourth strategy… 

4. Pause and Pray Before Deciding.

We need to pray before we make decisions.  When I say, pause and pray, that doesn’t mean to necessarily wait a year before deciding something.  Your prayer may only be 30 seconds before you make a decision.  I call them microwave prayers.  “God, what do You want me to do in this instance?”  And you wait.  “God, help me make the right decision.”  And you wait.   

You don’t have to tell everybody.  “Excuse me, everyone, while I pray.”  You may have your eyes wide open as you look at a client or customer or boss.  They ask you question, asking you for a decision.  I’ve done this often.  Someone is looking at me and I’m going, “What do You want me to do, Lord?  Give me wisdom.” 

When you can stop to pray, even for a split second, it tends to give you perspective.  And perspective is one of the things that helps you make wise decisions. We often make decisions too quickly.  People should never ask, “Does Pastor Bill make fast decisions?”  It’s more important to ask, “Does Pastor Bill make wise decisions?”  It’s not how fast you make a decision.   

You shouldn’t necessarily say, “Uh, I’m praying about it.”  That is often a cop out for procrastination.  Some of you have been praying for months about something that you should have taken you about two minutes.  You think about it and pray about it and then you do it. 

When you take time to pause and pray before you decide, you are slowing down your life to a more manageable speed.  Prov. 19:2 “Desire without knowledge is not good, & whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.”  The NIV translates the first part of that verse: “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge.”  Zeal is enthusiasm.  To get enthusiastic before getting all the facts is dumb.  If you move too quickly, the verse says, you may go the wrong way. 

Do you sports trivia buffs know who Roy Regals was?  In the 1929 Rose Bowl, Roy Regals recovered a football and ran sixty-five yards in the wrong direction.  He would have scored for the other team, but he was tackled by a teammate.  In 1964 Jim Marshall did the same thing with his Vikings playing the Forty-Niners.  He recovers a fumble and runs sixty-seven yards in the wrong direction and scored a safety for the Niners.  Doug Corrigan was a pilot, who is 1938 was going to fly from New York City to Long Beach, California.  He takes off in a thick fog and twenty-six hours later, he lands in Ireland.  Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good.  A person who moves too quickly may go in the wrong direction. 

God places signs all around us.  He speaks, at times, through circumstances, and through other people…your spouse, a trusted friend, etc.  At times, God is saying, “If you’ll just listen to Me, I’ll show you in advance that business idea is a dead end.  That project will not work.  I’ll save you a lot of time if you’ll listen to Me.   I’m putting up signs for you, but you are moving so fast so you are missing the signs.”   

Have you ever had to redo work because you were in a hurry the first time and didn’t do it well the first time?  Take your time.  Pray over it.  Pray about it.  Prov. 20:25 “It is a snare to say rashly, ‘It is holy,’ & to reflect only after making vows.”  The NIV says, “It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly & only later to consider his vows.”  It is always easier to get in than it is to get out.   

How many of you agree that it is easier to get into debt than to get out of it?  How many think it’s easier to get into a relationship than to get out of it?  How many would agree that it is easier to get into trouble than to get out of trouble?  How many of you agree that it is easier to gain weight than it is to lose it?  How many of you know it is easier to fill your schedule than to fulfill it? It is easier to get in than to get out. 

There is one thing in life that is easier to get out of than to get into—and that is a pair of freshly washed blue jeans.  That is harder to get into than to get out of.  But that is the only exception I’m aware of…in every other area of life, it is easier to get in than it is to get out. 

God is telling us to ponder before promising.  Deliberate before deciding.  Muse before you choose.  Reflect before you select.  (For a minute, I’m feeling a little like Jessie Jackson.)  Pause and pray before deciding and that will slow your life down. 

Leadership guru Peter Drucker, who died in 2005, used to tell his students, “Don’t tell me what new you’re doing.  Tell me what you’ve stopped doing.”  A true mark of leadership is knowing when to stop.  Like the old Indian proverb which says, “When the horse is dead, dismount.”  Learn how to take stuff off the plate. 

When you are faced with an opportunity, you should do three things.

• Ask, Is it worth it?  Evaluate the opportunity by asking is it worthy my time?  My energy?  My effort?  My reputation?  My money?  My life?  Every time you give yourself to an activity, you’re exchanging your life for it.  Your time IS your life.

If you go home this afternoon and watch an hour-long television show, you’ve just given up an hour of your life for that TV program?  Was it worthy it?  Think long-term.  How much will this matter five years from now?  Ten years from now?  How much will this matter for eternity.   

How do I know if it’s worthy it or not?  James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, & it will be given him.”           

• Ask, What am I going to give up?  What will I give up to add this new thing?  We all have “To Do” lists.  We may need a “Don’t Do” list.  We shouldn’t go everything.  We’re not good at everything.  What does God want you to do? 

• Learn to say no.  You may need to go on an activity diet.  Remember what I said last week about what you see from a car versus what you see by taking a walk.  Slow things down by saying no to some things.

5. Trust God’s Timing.

The two chief causes of hurry are discontentment and impatience.  Impatience is a lack of trust.  When you’re impatient you’re saying, “God, I don’t really trust You.  I don’t think You have my best interests at heart.”  You don’t trust God to do it at the right time and in the right way.  Ecc. 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”  God has a plan for your life.  He has a timetable for your life.  But here’s the rub.  God never explains His timetable. 

One of the most painful things in life is when you’re in a hurry but God is not.  Part of growing up, kids have to learn the difference between “no” and “not yet.”  A delay is not a denial.  God knows the right time and the right way.   Jer. 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness & not for evil, to give you a future & a hope.” 

“Slow Me Down, Lord”

Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace. Give, me, amidst the day’s confusion, the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves & muscles with the soothing music of singing streams that live in my memory. 

Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.  Teach me the art of taking “minute vacations;” slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to read a few lines form a good book. 

Remind me of the fable of the hare & the tortoise; that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more to life than measuring its speed. 

Let me look up at the branches of the towering oak & know that it grew slowly & well.  Inspire me to send my own roots down deep into the soil of life’s endearing values; that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny. 

Slow me down, Lord.

                                                --Wilfred Arlan Peterson

If you have ever been to a NASCAR race you know that there’s a pace car at the track, that comes out during a caution period.  You need a pacesetter for your life and His name is Jesus Christ.  We are hurried, tired people who often fail to live our lives with margin.  We are stretched beyond capacity.  Everything in our culture wants us to go more, and to go faster.  I encourage each of you to make a counter culture decision today—to enjoy the life God has given us—not merely endure it.  We want balanced, healthy lives where we have time for the relationships that matter most—with God, with those we love and those in our church family.  We need to apply the brakes.  Please pray with me. 

Please visit us at our next worship service.

We offer "An Unchanging Word To A Changing World"

In Christ,
Bill Bratley - Pastor