Urgent or Important?

What is the difference between urgent and important matters? Every day, there are decisions to be made, tasks to be accomplished, people to meet and many other issues that may take some level of priority in our lives. How should we correctly classify urgent and important matters?

Jesus gave us vital insight on this question when He prioritized rest over urgent healings, urgent preaching and urgent teaching. The same principle applies today: urgency cannot overtake importance.

He knew that His earthly ministry would not be long; He knew that the time spent with His disciples would be limited; He knew exactly how necessary it was to heal those who were suffering illnesses and spiritual battles. Yet He appealed: “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31, NLT). He was teaching a practical and very needed lesson to His disciples—to prioritize correctly. 

In times like these, with the ups and downs of coronavirus cases, work from home, hybrid school, loss of life and loss of “normality,” it is easy to raise the standard of “things we can/must do, as soon as possible.”

While trying to check every urgent task off our list, the words of Christ should echo in our minds, let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile, to prioritize spiritual restoration and mental health.

Emotionally healthy disciples will prioritize the words Jesus spoke on His way to Bethsaida. Mission was fundamental to Christ’s ministry, but that same mission led Him to instruct His core group of believers to take good care of themselves.

Following Jesus’ example, let us intentionally analyze what important matters must be done now. Has your health, your family, your communion with Christ, your friends or the mission of God made it on the list yet? Postponing important things so that we can tackle urgent ones is common, but not taking care of the important things will tackle us sooner or later. Let us follow the Master's example.