The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World
John Mark Comer
"Who am I becoming. " That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. Outwardly, he appeared successful. more
286 pages, Hardcover
First published WaterBrook
4.54
Rating
53567
Ratings
5845
Reviews
John Mark Comer
33 books 2756 followers
I am the director and teacher of Practicing the Way, founding pastor of Bridgetown Church and New York Times bestselling author of Live No Lies. My growing passion is the intersection of spiritual formation and post-Christian culture. The gnawing questions that get me out of bed in the morning are, how do we experience life with God? And how do we change to become more like Jesus? To that end, I can regularly be found reading the desert fathers and mothers, ancient saints and obscure contemplatives, modern psychologists and social scientists, philosophers like Dallas Willard, and op-eds from the New York Times.When I'm not reading, I can be found around a table with my family and friends, attempting to learn how to cook, drinking Heart coffee, and walking the family dog in the forest. Most important, I am husband to T and father to Jude, Moses, and Sunday.
Community reviews
I’ve never felt such joy while being so deeply convicted. This book really might change my life and I’m excited to lean into the way of life it presents, the unhurried lifestyle of Jesus Christ. Comer spoke directly to my anxious, restless and often frustrated soul with humor, and honesty, and deep wisdom. This book confronted the realities of my sin and my hurry which prevent me from love, joy, and peace. Yet it also gently and convincingly presented a solution, a solution embedded in Jesus’ own approach to life. more
2 stars. I think that the author’s call to slow down and the importance of the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude, sabbath, simplicity, and slowing are essential to the abundant life in Christ. However, I really dislike his writing style and often felt annoyed by the little “relatable” things he added in. Also, I felt this book to be unpractical and really not until the last section did he give any helpful steps to begin the practices for which he advocates. This book could easily be reduced to only 100 pages and still pack the same punch. more
Like moths to a flame, we fly to a fire that will consume us. We each carry a profound sense of lack and loss, and in not feeling like we are enough or that we have enough we rush and reach to fill the void. But all the shiny screens and hustling habits leave us with little room to inhabit the lives we have as good and the God who drew near to us in Jesus as actually here. This book will grieve you in a good way and carry you to the feet of Jesus, where He’ll ask you to take up your mat and walk. But do you want to walk. more
The first self help book I've ever read. Such a great read on really being intentional about slowing down and incorporating rest and relaxation into our lives. A much needed and very refreshing read. more
My son gifted me this as an audiobook because of some great conversations we had. He just sold his fancy new car and bought a “dumb” phone. I did not love the audio voice and I didn’t even agree with all the ways the author viewed the world, but and it’s a big one, I think this is a conversation we need to be having and I appreciate Comers willingness to say hard things. Still I will not be able to take a month off every summer but a day every week. absolutely vital. more
Soooo big caveat I should have read the synopsis/done more research before just diving into this book. I definitely didn’t realize there would be such a heavy religious perspective. That being said, I didn’t want not being Christian to stop me from giving the book a chance, especially because the topic was intriguing. But it did end up meaning that a lot of the book I just didn’t relate to. Again, not a fault of the book, that one is on me. more
The ruthless elimination of hurry is nothing other than A book that would look nice on a coffee table or on your latest Instagram post. The author and book seemed to have a lot of hype around it, and was curious to read it. However it didn’t meet my expectations. While there where a few key concepts I enjoyed they where easily lost in Unnecessary metaphors and jokes that seemed to go on for pages at a time. The points that where made seemed over-explained and drawn out (however not in-depth or helpful). more
All in all, Comer does a really good job diagnosing the problem with our culture - mainly, the fact that Americans are obsessed with "hurry," and it's a real problem. However, I think that this book doesn't really identify the larger problem of our world and our own hearts: the corrupting presence of sin that will remain no matter how simple or unhurried we make our life. Thus, it doesn't seem to offer the correct antidote to the larger problem and the glorious redemption that is awaiting those who live by faith in Jesus Christ. Though our cultural moment may be in need of more hurry-contrarians, our culture needs Christ all the more. --edit (since this is getting a lot of attention) --I really do like a lot of what Comer calls people to in his book. more
I have loved John Mark Comer's books and teachings for a few years now. He has beautifully mastered the art of using his own unique voice when writing, making deep or hard topics seem easy to read. This book is no exception and, honestly, may be one of his best works. I felt convicted yet encouraged, exposed yet freed. We live in a world that highly values productivity and hurry, celebrating the people who can "do it all". more
If you can get over the occasional youth pastor vibes (unnatural references to biggie smalls followed with lines like “yes, I just quoted biggie smalls”) and the fact he writes as he would speak (sentence fragments/periods meant to signify where you’d pause if you were reading aloud) THE CONTENT IS SO GOOD AND, for me, LIFE-CHANGING. . more
4. 5/5 stars. This was incredible. A wonderful, quick (ironically), reset to find peace and comfort in Christ, not in money or time or productivity or possessions. It could not have been more timely. more
Life changing; one I’ll be reading year after year. Thank you John Mark Comer for feeding into my soul. . more
This book literally changed my life, my mind, my SOUL. This book brought me closer to Jesus and helped me find realistic ways to live a more holy life. I loved every page of this. . more
The amount of times someone has said, “I’m reading this book and it reminds me of you” or “I swear this book was written for you” is pretty humbling and very convicting. I have never been someone to slow down. I over commit, over plan, over spend and it all ends up overwhelming me. A few years ago someone told me that this comes from the sin of wanting to be like God - wanting to be limitless. This message was reinforced in this book. more
4. 5 stars. Life changing content. Everyone should read it. Just docked half a star for the supperrrrr casual writing style. more
A helpful and important read. The steps JMC outlines are essential, and I want to do a better job at practicing them. Huge respect for the way he has rejected the pressures of public life for a better way, one that we should all take: slowing down, simplifying, and Sabbathing. The older I get, the more I understand that these make a life well lived. For a popular audience, it does a good job. more
I was content to just rate the book. But y’all asked. So,You can come at the issues of this book by considering the pictures of sabbath/rest/unhurriedness Comer offers and imagining who could attain these. There’s the initial one of living in the city and being able to walk his dog to work (idk how anyone with a dog is unhurried but I’ll leave that). There’s taking a month vacation in the summer with a stack of books while his kids play in front of him (any parent knows that this is either helplessly out of touch or John Mark is being conveniently silent on where Mrs. more
Ok wow. Definitely convicted of the way I currently live life & so many practical ways I can change my unhealthy habits. For sure not taking his advice about having only 2 grey shirts…. but will be taking many other practices. Loved the chapter on Sabbath & solitude/silence. more
There is a lot of wisdom and practical advice in here to glean. The irony of this book though, is there was enough fluff in it that I was inclined to skim a good amount - which felt an awful lot like hurrying through a book about not hurrying. Many of his profound points were actually quotes from other authors that he just tied together, which made me want to read works from these other authors more than his work. But still, it served as a relatively quick/easy compilation to consume on this very important, relevant topic. I was surprised that in his section on “Spiritual Disciples,” he includes topics like “simplicity” and “sabbath” - and although he sets himself up so well with the “s” theme - he doesn’t include Scripture as a spiritual discipline. more
You ever love what someone has to say but absolutely hate the WAY they say it. That's John Mark Comer for me. A friend introduced me to him last year (thanks Emily. ) and he's definitely a unique teaching voice but everything he says is so laced with an aura of "I'm not like a regular pastor, I'm a cool pastor" it makes me roll my eyes to the point of needing prayer to heal my ocular nerve. He's like an orthodox Rob Bell in that way, and if that's your jam then go for it - but to me it reads like a Portlandia parody of a pastor; kombucha, Myers Briggs references, coffee snobbery, plant based diets, being a former member of an indie rock band. more
A refreshing read/listen. Comer has a way of stretching one's comfort zone without making statements that are profound; they are simple invitations to slow the pace of life. I frequently felt called out as I progressed through the book, but John Mark's relatable and friendly tone revealed to me that a life of hurry is a common struggle. Similar to Garden City, he throws out interesting and memorable facts/statements that help reiterate how overwhelming our modern lifestyle has become. I thoroughly enjoyed one of the later chapters where Comer presents a tangible call to action in the form of a list. more
Short little book full of really helpful practical ideas to simplify and slow down. Minimalism, sabbath rest, and getting off screens are all addressed. He’s very clear that it’s not to add more rules (although he adores rules) but ideas to help live a more full life enjoying God and His world and people more fully. . more
This has been a fun time. I really enjoyed this book. It was much needed. I have a few things to chat about if you want to stick around. I really appreciate at the end him talking about Bro Lawerence bc we all know he’s my favorite. more
I put off reading this for a long time but am so glad I finally did it. Enjoy my really long review:This book is super readable and I appreciated the structure of how it’s organized. JMC centers his book around the idea that Christians are called to be “apprentices” of Jesus, imitating his lifestyle not just obeying his explicit commands. He does a wonderful job revealing how an unhurried life of simplicity leads to abundance. I love and have been mulling over the CS Lewis quote he included near the end, which says, “the present is the point at which time touches eternity. more
WARNING: Do not read this book if you are not interested in changing your daily habits and feeling deeply convicted. This book was absolutely amazing. John Mark Comer does an incredible job of describing the problem (hurry) and then providing practical ways to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your own life. He does this through providing Biblically-based suggestions without being overly legalistic, and also simply pointing out the benefits of altering the way you live. The practices he walks through in this book will certainly speak to the heart of anyone living in today's world and gently point you towards God. more
My boss actually bought me this book and told me to read it. I'm so glad that I did. As someone who chronically overestimates his capacity and whose mind is always active, I really needed to read this plea to eliminate hurry. Comer's book is a quick and easy read, but it's packed full of great stories, quotes, Scripture references, and jokes. I appreciated his call and vision to lead a life that is 1) slower 2) characterized by internal/external silence 3) Sabbath 4) simplicity. more
This book basically uses the bible and the life of Jesus to give examples of how to be mindful and why it's extremely important to be mindful in the chaos that we are currently living in. The general idea of the book is nice, however, I found some of the examples of how to be mindful kind of unrealistic and hard to actually do. Jan, 28, 2020. more
I think this is a great topic to read about: Hurry and how it is destructive. But, John brought up politics on page 20 and there was no place for that. Way to lose some of your readers so early on. I wish I would not have spent the money on this book. With there being many books about this topic, actively trying to offend some of your readers early on in the book is quite sad. more
4 star content written in a 2. 5 star kind of way. His writing style was not my favorite. 5 stars for the mentor book club discussion, though. . more