Can I Finish?
Submitted by Ted Mock
July 2, 2025
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Have you ever had a day where you needed more than just the 24 hours to get everything on your to do list finished? Today was a day like that. I need 36 hours today at least. The urgent matters are like baby birds in a nest, each one with their mouth open competing for the one worm brought back to the nest.
We all have days like that where the urgent is crowding out the important, and the demands of the urgent causes conflict and confusion to the point where the pressure can overtake the priorities of life.
One author writes how that the tyranny of the urgent can keep us from the important things of life.
We have blinded our minds by the urgent, and we fail to see we are losing the battle, and we miss what is important. Our modern society conditions us that we must take every urgent matter, all day long and into the night, no matter how long it takes and how hard we have to work.
We live with a cell phone in our hand and a computer by our side, and we are in constant contact with anyone who wants us anytime day or night. Devices that we thought were time savers have become our masters. We are busy all the time but become discouraged that we never seem to be able to complete important tasks. The tyranny of the urgent keeps us from spending our time wisely. Deception causes us to think that activity is spirituality.
In John chapter 11, Jesus did not respond to the urgent call of Mary and Martha to come quickly and heal their sick brother Lazarus. He knew that demonstrating His power over death and the grave would give His followers hope of His resurrection after His death on the cross. He knew that what was important took precedence over what was an urgent request.
The Lord prayed to the Father, Joh 11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Knowing what was important, and doing the will of the Father with His short time on earth was the example He left to us on how to manage our time.
Consider – “Lord, help me to see what is important and seek to follow your example.”
