FaithInk

I have been thinking about this John Wooden quote a lot lately. As one of the best college basketball coaches of all time, Wooden is well known for his powerful and pithy quips about both life and basketball. Countless young men look back to him as the pivotal figure who influenced their lives for the better. He was a colossal figure whose faith was consistently on display. And did I mention he was a really good coach? 10 NCAA championships and an incredible 316-68 win/loss record proves he knew how to get the most out of his players.

“Be quick but don’t hurry.”

On the basketball court that is solid advice. A successful player needs to constantly be on the balls of his feet and with agility change direction in the blink of an eye. Quickness can be the difference between a turnover and a fast break. In basketball you need to be quick. 

But at the same time you cannot afford to hurry. If you hurry you will inevitably lose control of the ball, foul the opposing player, or fall out of sync with your teammates. Hurriedness is a sign of an immature player who, more often than not, is a bit of a ball-hog who overestimates his own skill.  

So why is this specific quote resonating with me so much lately?

It is because I believe that now, more than ever, we need to be quick but not hurried. Let me explain.

The lives that we live today are often dizzyingly fast-paced and the news that bombards us is alreaday “yesterday’s news” just a few hours later. It gets worst. Television and the social internet are incentivized to draw and hold our attention and their algorithms are specifically designed so that we don’t look away. Political pundits make their living off of our outrage. A new crisis seems to pop up every twelve hours or so and everyone is expected to have an informed opinion about the last week’s events. Fact and fiction seem to blur into a confusing mess.

How do we navigate times like these? We make sure our responses to each situation are quick but not hurried.

Be quick:

• To pray.
  • We ought to be praying for the wisdom that comes from above that James talks about in James 3:13-18. When our first response is to pray we are admitting that we, in and of ourselves, cannot handle the situation on our own. James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud but give grace to the humble. When our default posture is prayer we are humbling submitting to a God who is infinitely wiser and stronger than we are.
• To admit when we got it wrong.
  • Chances are you won’t be right about everything. You will more than likely have a “bad take” from time to time. That is fine. What is not fine is when we double down on our bad opinion and refuse to admit we were mistaken. Proverbs 28:13 speaks to this point, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,  but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” We would be better off if more of us, and more of our leaders, were quicker to admit mistakes instead of brashly embracing them.
• To seek wise counsel.
  • Proverbs 12:15, “The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Find some people in your life where you can run your thoughts, feelings, and opinions by. Choose people who will give your room to be vulnerable and grace to change your mind. Most importantly, find people who will consistently point you to God’s Word with calm and steadiness. Finally, Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in the abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Don’t Hurry:

• Into outrage.
  • Our God Himself is incredibly patient with us fickle human beings. Over and over again the Bible tells us that He is slow to get angry. (Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15, Romans 2:4) We also are commanded to be “slow to anger” in James 1:19. This is an area where we can seek to be like our God and not be quick to anger. Are there times where we should feel and express a righteous anger to atrocities and rampant evil that exists? Yes, of course. At the same time we can be confident that our God will one day defeat every evil and that sin will be no more, and be confident that He has made us more than conquerors in Him. Instead of constant outrage/anger perhaps our responses can be marked by a patient hopeful longing for when He will make all things new.
• To say something.
  • In the same verse that James tells us to be slow to anger we are also told to be slow to speak. Later on in chapter 3 we can read how dangerous errant words can be. Our tongues are compared to bit and bridle on a horse, a rudder on a ship, and a forrest fire. Things so small, such as words, can have unimaginable consequences. Therefore, we need to be careful with what we say Because, just like toothpaste from a tube, once something comes out of our mouth we can’t put it back in.
• Into instability.
  • All throughout the Bible we are reminded of God’s unshifting and unchanging nature. He is the great I AM. (Exodus 3) Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) and we are called to have a faith that reflects that stability. In Matthew 7 Jesus tells us to have a faith built on a firm foundation (Himself) that does not shift when the storms of life come. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, tells us that because of the Resurrection of Christ we ought to be steadfast and immovable in our hope. As Christians we can be marked by our calm steadiness.

As believers we need to be ready for whatever life throws at us. It can feel like an overwhelming task when it feels like life just never stops throwing stuff. The good news is that we have God’s Word and God’s Spirit guiding and directing us through all the ups and downs. He has equipped us so that we can be quick, but we don’t need to hurry.