Urgency Averts Emergencies

By Greg Sanders

I was reading a study the other day which revealed that many emergency room visits could have been prevented if the patient would have sensed the urgency of their situation earlier when their regular doctor’s office was still open. Since they did not sense the urgency, it turned into an emergency.

Do you ever feel like your life is being driven by one emergency after another? We all experience emergencies in different areas of our life. We have financial emergencies, health emergencies, relational emergencies, and even spiritual emergencies. Some emergencies cannot be helped. Some of them are just the result of the crazy world we live in. However, if your life goes from one emergency to another, this truth may just help.

Jesus said in John 9:4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. Jesus was urgent about doing what His father had sent Him to do. If you read the teaching of Jesus very much at all you will discover there was urgency about all that He taught. He realized that He was operating on limited time. Jesus was always urgent about His message, His priorities, and the people in His life yet you never saw Him living in a state of emergency. You and I are also operating on limited time. You only get 24 hours a day. There is only so much we can do in one day so we must make sure that we spend our days doing what matters most.

Urgency averts emergencies when we are urgent about things that matter. Many emergencies in life derive from us not having urgency about the things that matter or things that could make a difference. A doctor may tell a patient to exercise daily to prevent a health issue. If the patient does not have the urgency to exercise, it is most likely just a matter of time until he experiences an emergency. Many of the emergencies in our lives are similar. Examine your current emergency and test to see if it is directly tied to an urgency you ignored. If you were not urgent about saving, you may now have a financial emergency. If you were not urgent about spending time with God or in church, you may now we have a Spiritual emergency. If you were not urgent in protecting time with your spouse or kids you may now have a family emergency. Many emergencies are tied to a loss of urgency.

Let me ask you a question: Are you being urgent about the things that are most important? Are you being urgent about your relationship with God? Are you being urgent in prioritizing your family? Are you being urgent in stewarding the resources God has placed in your life? Where there is a lack of urgency, an emergency is often around the corner. Avert emergencies by being urgent about what matters most. Jesus has given you today. Be urgent about the thing that matters the most.

Blessings,

Greg