Don't Let Hurry Hijack Your Heart

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He said his mornings used to start the same way.

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Alarm, swipe, scroll. Before he'd even prayed, his thumb had

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already taken a lap through the headlines, emails, and

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notifications on his phone. Samuel D. James, who writes for

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Crossway about faith and our phones, finally asked, What if I

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gave God my first attention instead of my feed? He tried one

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simple change. Put the phone out of reach and start the day with

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scripture and prayer. What happens when the first 15

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minutes belong to Jesus, not the timeline?

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Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger, and

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today we're talking about something most of us feel every

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single day. And that is hurry. Not just a busy schedule, but a

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hurried heart. You know what I mean. Moving from task to task,

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mind racing, soul buzzing, but not really present to God or the

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people in front of you. Hurry has a way of hijacking our

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hearts if we're not careful. And Jesus speaks straight into that

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tendency. In Luke chapter 10, verses 38 to 42, we have a story

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about someone who was more concerned with getting things

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done than spending unhurried time with Jesus. Here it is. As

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Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to

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Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman

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named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister Mary sat at

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the Lord's feet listening to what he taught. But Martha was

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distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus

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and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister

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just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and

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help me. But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha, you are

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worried and upset over all these details. There is only one thing

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worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it. And it

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will not be taken away from her. Jesus wasn't rebuking Martha for

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working. He was calling out the hurry that had taken over her

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heart. If we're honest, most of us live like Martha far more

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than Mary. We start the day reacting. Notifications, news,

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messages, and tasks. It's easy to wake up with a full schedule

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but an empty soul. And that's exactly where Martha was. Busy

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for Jesus, but not actually with Jesus. Let's go back to the

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story about Samuel James. He tried one simple change. The

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phone out of reach and the first minutes of the day belonging to

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Jesus. Here's what he now counsels people to do. Make it

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small and doable. He says, read for five, pray for ten. If the

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phone pulls you back, cut the cord for a bit. Turn it off. Put

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it in another room. Try a weekly tech Sabbath and let your soul

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breathe. He says those habits begin to retrain your attention

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toward Christ and help you actually show up for real people

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in real community. It's not about being anti-technology.

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It's about being pro-presence. Start with the word, talk to the

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Lord, and let everything else take a number. That's the

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difference between Martha and Mary. Martha's activity wasn't

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the problem. It was her divided attention. Mary wasn't lazy. She

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was simply focused on Jesus. And sometimes the most spiritual

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thing you can do is slow down long enough to hear Jesus speak

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your name. The truth is, hurry doesn't just make you tired. It

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makes you spiritually dull. It crowds out prayer. It dulls your

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awareness of God's presence. And it steals the margin needed to

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love people well. Jesus invites us to step off the treadmill and

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sit at his feet, to choose the one thing that matters most.

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What if your day began with Jesus instead of your inbox?

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What if you got your heart settled before your schedule

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takes over? Little practices can reorient an entire life. Here's

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today's challenge. Tomorrow morning, before you touch your

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phone, spend just five minutes reading scripture and five

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minutes talking to Jesus. No pressure. No checklist. Just

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presence. And if hurry keeps creeping back in, ask the Lord

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to slow your heart so you can hear his voice. Lord, so often I

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let hurry run my life. I rush past you, past people, and past

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the moments you've set in front of me. Help me slow down and

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choose the one thing that matters, to sit with you, to

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listen, and to live at your pace. Give me a calm, attentive heart.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for joining me today on Daily

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Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, don't let hurry hijack

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your heart. Choose what matters most. Come back next time for

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more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.

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Until then, God bless and have a great day.