The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world

In the final chapter of Part 2, Comer begins to shift from framing the theory of a solution to dealing with its practical elements. He does this by analyzing the lifestyle of Jesus as portrayed in the gospel accounts of the Bible. If we are to learn from Jesus and take up his “easy yoke,” as Matthew 11:28-30 says, then we need to know how he lived his daily life.

Comer refers to several gospel stories in the course of making his first point: Jesus was really never in a hurry, even when seemingly urgent circumstances surrounded him. Rather than portraying Jesus as constantly rushing around, the gospels tell stories of him devoting time to sit and share meals with people, both strangers and friends, time to sleep, time to get away from the crowds and rest, and time to spend with God in prayer.

Comer suggests that once we have a grasp of how Jesus lived, we can move to the next step: asking the question, “How would Jesus live if he were me?” (93). One must apply Jesus’s manner of life to the circumstances, roles, and obligations of one’s own life. To do this, Comer advises his readers to consider making a “rule of life”—“a schedule and set of practices to order your life around the way of Jesus in community” (94). This idea comes from the monastic tradition within Christianity, but has often been applied by laypeople as well. The “rule” in a rule of life refers not to a list of what one can and cannot do, but rather to the Latin term regula, which suggests a straight piece of wood, such as was often used to help growing plants in a garden or vineyard. A rule of life thus gives one a structure upon which to grow—spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

Comer notes that while a rule of life will necessarily include a set of actions to undertake, they are not simply an addition onto an already-too-full schedule. Rather, they are meant to be the support structure upon which all the rest of that schedule is built, and Comer believes that most readers actually have the time to devote to just such a structure, underscoring again his belief that the problem is not with the amount of time we have, but with the unhealthy and frivolous ways we have come to use it.

Having introduced both the problem of hurry in Part 1 and the theoretical foundations of a solution in Part 2, Comer now begins his transition to the practical application he suggests, a shift already seen in the practical nature of his advice in this chapter. The main thematic emphasis in this chapter is once again on the idea of Apprenticeship to Jesus. Comer reemphasizes the point that being an apprentice to Jesus is not merely a matter of what one believes, but of what one puts into practice in one’s daily life. Further, Comer develops the theme in order to apply it to each reader’s place in life. Following Jesus as his apprentice is not a matter of mimicry, of adopting the cultural habits of a wandering first-century Jewish rabbi, but of applying the manner of Jesus’s life to one’s own circumstances. Thus the question is not (as the popular Christian slogan of the late 20th century had it): What would Jesus do? Rather, it is “how would Jesus live if he were me?” (93).