104: John Mark Comer

11/13/19 • 50 min

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Thriving Beyond Belief with Cheryl Scruggs

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Please welcome John Mark Comer to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week talking about our world of HURRY and how we can eliminate it!!

Author and Former Megachurch Pastor John Mark Comer Advocates a New Practice for Your Spiritual Life: Slowing Down

Our worst moments tend to happen when we are in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on our to-do list, cramming too much in our day. It occurs when we’re trying constantly to do more, creating a bone-deep tiredness not just in our minds or bodies but deep in our souls. In short, hurry doesn’t just make us weary. It is the great enemy of our spiritual life.

Author and pastor John Mark Comer proposes that the solution to being fully present to God, others, and our own hearts is found simply by following the unhurried way of Jesus. He explains, “Jesus invites all of us to take up the ‘easy’ yoke. He has—on offer to all—an easy way to shoulder the weight of life with his triumvirate of love, joy, and peace.”

Comer’s journey to discovering the life-changing remedy of slowing down began while he was pastoring a successful megachurch with six services each Sunday, a marathon lifestyle which left him feeling burnt out and detached from those around him. In a moment of desperation, he asked his mentor, John Ortberg, for advice. The response he received was the same as what philosopher and Christian spiritual formation teacher Dallas Willard had given to Ortberg years before: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. There is nothing else.”

As Comer put this simple truth into practice in his own life, he experienced radical renewal in his mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry describes his transformation and offers hope amidst the toxicity in our fast-paced, modern world.

In a casual, conversational tone, he presents a poignant message: “This is an invitation—for all the tired, the burned out, the stressed, all those stuck in traffic and behind on their to-do list....If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.”

John Mark Comer lives, works, and writes in the urban core of Portland, Oregon. He is the pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown Church. Prior to that, he was lead pastor of a suburban megachurch. He has a master’s degree from Western Seminary and is the author of Loveology, Garden City, and God Has a Name. John Mark lives in Portland with his wife, Tammy, and their three children.

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Please welcome John Mark Comer to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week talking about our world of HURRY and how we can eliminate it!!

Author and Former Megachurch Pastor John Mark Comer Advocates a New Practice for Your Spiritual Life: Slowing Down

Previous Episode

103: Niki Hardy

Please welcome Niki Hardy to the Thriving Beyond Belief podcast this week!!

Niki Hardy is a speaker and writer whose work has appeared in Christian Today and Living by Design Ministries and on Premier Radio. After leaving corporate life in London, she trained as a teacher at Kings College, London, before studying theology at Wycliffe, Oxford. She and her husband moved their family to the United States to plant CityChurch Charlotte, NC, where they now live with their three kids and two crazy Goldendoodles. A rectal (yes, rectal) cancer survivor, pastor’s wife, tea drinker, and teller of bad jokes, she’d love to connect with you at www.nikihardy.com if she can’t hug you in person.

Niki Hardy watched her mother pass away from cancer, and then her sister a few years later. When she herself was diagnosed just six weeks later it left her reeling, questioning, and merely surviving a life that bore no resemblance to the abundant life Jesus promises in the Bible, so she set out to find it.

In her new book, Breathe Again: How to Live Well When Life Falls Apart, Hardy unpacks seven practices to thrive, not just survive, no matter what life throws at us. Full of grit, humor and unvarnished stories from her own grief and rectal cancer journey, Hardy’s story and her Thriver Manifesto will help readers claim truths such as: I believe life doesn’t have to be pain-free to be full. I’ve got this because God’s got me, and together we can do more than I could ever do alone. I step into vulnerable spaces with God and others, aware that my strength can be my biggest weakness. I practice gratitude in all things, confident that peace and well-being will follow.

I have learned to breathe again. “We’ve bought into the myth that a painful season can’t be full,” writes Hardy, “that a time of abundance isn’t challenging—and this, dear reader, gets my goat. I just don’t think it’s true, and this is exactly what this book is about: smashing this myth and inhaling all God has for us.”

Next Episode

105: Nicole Zasowski

As a marriage and family therapist, one of Nicole Zasowski’s greatest joys is helping her clients grow in emotional freedom. What she couldn’t see for many years is that she was living her own life outside of that freedom, clinging to behaviors like shame, performance, and control in order to feel valued and safe.

It was only when she was confronted with her own devastating pain and loss that Nicole realized her current way of life was failing her. She then discovered that sometimes God’s rescue looks like prying our fingers off what we think we want so that we can receive what we truly need. And often, on the far side of pain we don’t prefer, we find transformation we would not trade.

In From Lost to Found, Nicole shares her story as she helps us

name what we fear losing most,
identify how our reactive behaviors are failing us,
discover what joy we can find in letting go, and
move forward in the freedom God has for us.

God is writing a story of redemption in your life too. Find out for yourself that sometimes the greatest joy is found when we are drained of all misplaced hope and shallow identities. In the midst of pain or transition, discover a surprising path to healing as you lose your grip on comfort and control—and fall right into God’s transformative grace.

Highlights:

In our culture today, we often talk about feelings as if they are the truest part of ourselves... but they aren't
We talk about behaviors like performance, control, and shame.
We talk about what we do to protect ourselves from pain.