The Tyranny of the Urgent

Series: First Things First

Leslie Basham: Did you have a "to-do" list yesterday? If so, how many things did you accomplish from that list?

Today is August 20 and you're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

What gets in the way of our priorities? Phone calls, e-mails, homework, chauffeuring, a one-day sale at the department store and other little urgent interruptions. Help is on the way because today Nancy is going to help us break through some of those time stealers with an important word about the tyranny of the urgent.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: We're talking this week about how to order our priorities so that we can get the most out of our time and can fulfill the agenda that God has for our lives. We've been looking at the word "priorities" and next to each of those letters coming up with an insight about how to establish our priorities

We looked at the letter "P" last week. That's the word "pray." Ask God for wisdom. We can't say that enough. We've got to start our day; continue through our day by saying, "Lord, we need You to help us order our priorities."

Then the letter "R"--Review God's priorities for your life. Go to the Scripture; find out, "What does God's Word have to say for you as a woman at this season of life. What are the main things, the first things, that you need to keep first in your life?"

Then the letter "I"--we talked about taking Inventory, evaluating, assessing, "How am I spending my time? What is on my "to-do" list? What's on my responsibility list? And are those things that fit under the priorities that I have discovered for my life in the Word of God?" If not, we need to eliminate, we need to get rid of some of those things until we know that the things we're doing are the most important things for our lives.

Then we talked yesterday about the letter "O." Order your schedule, your activities, your daily involvement according to God's priorities for your life. We said that it's so important to put the first things first in the day because if we don't, we find that our day gets eaten up with all kinds of other things that may be good; but then we get to the end of the day and we say, "I didn't do the things I really needed to do--the things that should have been top priorities."

Whereas if we start the day by putting in the bigger things, the harder things, the more important things, then we find that those other things can fit in around the larger items in our lives.

Now today we come to the letter "R." Again P-R-I-O-R. And here we want to learn to resist what someone has called the tyranny of the urgent. Resist the tyranny of the urgent. You may recognize that phrase as the name of a little booklet by a man by the name of Charles Hummel. It's been very helpful to me and something that I find I need to go back to and reread periodically

I have to share with you a cute little e-mail that was sent out to our staff last week. I was looking for a copy of that booklet, The Tyranny of the Urgent, and I couldn't put my hands on one so I e-mailed my secretary and I said, "Could you find me please a copy of this little booklet, The Tyranny of the Urgent? So here's the e-mail that she sent out to all the staff in our ministry.

It said, "Does anyone have a copy of The Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles Hummel that Nancy could borrow? If so, please let me know ASAP as I need to Fed-Ex a box to her today." Now, talk about the tyranny of the urgent. Isn't that the way that so often we are living?

In that little booklet, which is a classic, Hummel says that the problem is not so much that we don't have enough time. We sit there and wish that we could have a 30-hour day. If you did have a 30-hour day, you'd have the same problems. "Because," he says, "the problem is not that we don't have enough time, it's really a problem of priorities."

He talks in this booklet about the tension between the things that are urgent and the things that are important. He said, "The important task rarely must be done today or even this week. But urgent tasks call for instant action." So from the moment I get up in the morning, there are urgent things that are pressing in on me and clamoring to get attention. But what happens is that I often, in the process of tending to those urgent tasks, will ignore the truly important tasks--things that aren't due 'til next week; but if I don't start working on them now, I won't have them done next week.

Now I have to say here that technology has been a blessing in many respects. But in other ways, it has not helped us in this matter of priorities. Technology has served to increase the sense that everything is urgent. And so e-mails have to be responded to immediately. Phone calls, voice mails, have to be returned immediately. What did we ever do before Fed-Ex? What did we ever do before fax machines? We need to learn to recognize the difference between what's urgent and what's important

There's a passage in Matthew, chapter 23, where Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. And I think by way of application, He's making this point. The Pharisees were guilty of focusing on the immediate, obvious responsibilities. But in the process they missed the important and weightier responsibilities.

Listen to what Jesus said. Matthew 23:23, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin," you're tithing on all these minute things in your life (that's the urgent). "But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness."

Now Jesus said, "You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat" (a tiny little gnat, you pay attention to it and make sure and get it out of the way--that's the urgent) "but swallow a camel." That's the important. He's saying you need to do the important, put the important first.

Now, there's nothing wrong with the tithing on the spices. Jesus, in fact, says, "You should have done that. But you should have done the first things first. You should make sure that in the process of doing the immediate and the obvious, that you're not missing the things that are truly important."

Just because we're busy doesn't necessarily mean that we're being productive. I mean you hardly meet a person today who doesn't appear to be busy. The question isn't, "Are we busy?" Busyness is not a virtue. The question is, "Are we busy doing the important things?"

Let me say this, by the way. There are some stay-at-home moms who've said, "I want that to be my priority. I want my home to be my priority" who aren't at home. They're busy doing all kinds of other things. They've replaced their career, their job outside the home with lots of other things that are still keeping them, in many cases, from the important priority of their husband and their children.

One of the practical things that helps me in resisting the tyranny of the urgent is learning not to say "yes" on the spot to requests or invitations that are not clearly within my current responsibilities. If it's not obvious, when someone asks me, "Would you do this? Would you take care of this? Do you mind handling this?" I'm learning not to say "yes" on the spot unless it's obviously something that fits within my current responsibilities. It's so much better to say, "Can I let you know tomorrow?" I need to inquire of the Lord. I need to do the first thing first. "P"--pray--that's my first priority.

In the Book of Nehemiah we have the story of Nehemiah leading the effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. There came a point when some of the enemies of the work came to Nehemiah and tried to distract him. They were trying to get the work to stop.

Let me assure you that Satan is ever at work trying get you to stop doing the most important things. If he can keep you busy with good things and keep you from doing the most important thing, then he has succeeded, even if he never gets you to commit some major sin.

So these enemies of the work came to Nehemiah and said, "Come down off that wall. We want to have a meeting." This is a distraction, an interruption. We have to learn to discern which interruptions are from the Lord and which are not of the Lord. But Nehemiah says in 6:3, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."

That's what we need to learn to say to some of those distractions and those interruptions that we discern are not from the Lord. I can be distracted with the tyranny of the urgent without ever leaving my house, without ever leaving my bedroom or my study in the morning.

I can find countless things to do that are good things, but at the neglect of the important thing. I need to learn to say, "What I am doing is important. I can't stop. I can't come down." Now we need to learn to be sensitive to when there are things that are from the Lord, opportunities that we need to respond to.

Jesus understood the difference between the urgent and the important. I think one wonderful illustration of that is found in John, chapter 11, when Jesus received word that Lazarus was sick unto death.

The Scripture says that He loved Lazarus. Lazarus was one of His dearest friends. Jesus loved the family of Lazarus and I'm sure that, as a Man, He wanted to immediately go do something, whatever He could, to help in this situation. But the Scripture says when He heard that Lazarus was sick He said, "I'm not going right now."

He waited four days and by the time He went to Bethany where Lazarus lived, what had happened? Lazarus had died. Now that seems like Jesus made a scheduling error. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but if you're just looking at it on the surface of things or how we often do things, it would look like Jesus made a mistake.

But of course He didn't. The fact is, the urgent thing was to go immediately to Lazarus and to keep him from dying. Could Jesus have done that? Of course He could have. But Jesus knew that God had something in mind that was more important than the urgent thing. The urgent thing was keep Lazarus from dying. The important thing was raise Lazarus from the dead.

You see, if Jesus had done the urgent thing, He couldn't have done the important thing. And so He was sensitive to the will of the Father. He made a choice to wait, not to do the urgent thing. Now I can imagine people could have been criticizing Him. "Your best friend or one of Your best friends, and You're not going to take care of him? What will his family think?" But Jesus was not driven by what other people thought.

He was driven by obedience to the will of His Father. As a result, He could listen to God, wait on God and then risk what others might think when He decided not to give in to the tyranny of the urgent. And as a result, He was able to do the thing that was truly important.

Leslie Basham: Does it seem like urgent things push out the important things on a daily basis? Nancy will be back in just a minute to wrap up our program today. But before she comes I want to tell you about a booklet that will help you put first things first. Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles Hummel is incredibly challenging and practical. It's a quick read and will help you think through your priorities from a biblical perspective.

To get information on getting the booklet you can call toll free at 1-800-569-5959. When you call, you can also ask for our current series on cassette. It's called First Things First. It's available for a suggested donation of $8.

If today God is prompting you to remember our needs with a financial gift, we'd like to show our appreciation by sending you a booklet called Making the Most of Your Time. It's yours with a donation of any amount.  You can also send a donation over the Web at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Nancy is taking us through the word PRIORITIES letter by letter. Tomorrow we'll be on the letter "I." Find out what that stands for next time. And now again here's Nancy.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Father, there are so many urgent things that press in on us day after day, hour after hour. A lot of those are good things. I pray that You'd give us discernment about what's urgent and what's truly important. Help us to resist being controlled by the urgent and to give ourselves to the things that are truly important. Show us the difference. And help us to live out the difference. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen

Leslie Basham: Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.

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