The solution to our problems is right in front of us, but there is too much noise to sort through and determine what is the most important. To solve this, we must see what all our problems have in common.
What has changed in the same time frame? Essentially time has sped up. We are both going through resources and accumulating trash at an accelerating rate. The common way in which our modern world can be easily explained that is different from the traditional world is in our conception of time.
What do all the things sages say have in common? How is prayer like meditation? How does a person learn discipline? What is the key to applying this to our lives? This can all be reduced to slowing down our thinking, speaking, and acting.
Most people think that the way to survive a disaster is to quickly gather huge amounts of supplies. But people who have huge amounts of supplies often give up, while those with few or no resources thrive. This is because they have a positive mental attitude.
By slowing down, you keep from panicking and make better decisions. Most things take longer than we plan and, even in emergencies, we often have much more time to act than we realize.
Jesus was never in a rush. He constantly left to talk with His Father and did so even more often, the more His stress increased. People need silence and rest. This is how we learn to think.
Today we are too busy to take care of ourselves. God gave us limitations as a blessing, not a curse. Only those who do evil have no chance to rest.
The key to self mastery is to realize we all need God. But this will only start, when we place boundaries on how much we allow others to do our thinking for us. No one has time to do everything.
Try fasting from electronics, entertainment, or buying things. Spend the time saved to seek God. The only way we find God is by not giving up. We must show we are really committed to Him.
We only make peace with God, when we accept we cannot have everything. We cannot solely focus on our own needs and still be happy Christians. The Bible is controversial because it forces us to choose. We cannot be both at the center of our future and still have room for God in our lives.
For God to be in our lives, we need to withdraw from the spotlight. For God to be greater, we need to shrink. We can never be at peace, if we desire to be the center of attention, because everyone else wants the same thing.
This is why some people reject God and will not spend eternity with Him. If we won’t accept that God is more important than us, then we will never be happy anywhere, even in Heaven. For those who will humble themselves before God, in every area of their lives, we need not wait until we die to reconcile with God.
God does not carry us away to Heaven, or ask us to do something we cannot understand or relate with. God has brought Heaven to Earth. God has made the ultimate effort to reconcile with us. But we need to make a legitimate effort, to accept His offer.
But today we all are too lazy, to be honest. We need to make time for both God and ourselves. We need to wait for God to speak to us. We also must accept His message will likely come to us through people we encounter in our daily lives and in the Bible.
Time is the source of our problems and the solution is to slow down.