I am really glad that Crossway Books sent me a free advanced reader copy of Kevin DeYoung's forthcoming book, Crazy Busy for review. At this point I should make a joke about being too busy to read the whole thing. But I did. And I won't.
In fact, the moment I closed the cover for the last time, I immediately recommended it to my wife who almost never reads the same books that I read. (In fact, she doesn't always even read the books I've written!) While our interests are varied, this particular book had an immediate and personal impact on the both of us. We are, in fact, Crazy Busy.
You may be even busier than I am, but I know for sure that this is one of my greatest personal struggles. I waste very little time (usually) and still require all of the daylight hours and quite of few of the dark hours to keep my schedule manageable. Week after week, I call out to God to strengthen my resolve or at least lengthen my days. He never answers the latter prayer, but He does give grace in the former!
In this short work (118 pages) Kevin DeYoung writes in a witty enough style that will cause you to burst out loud laughing several times--yep that's me! His gives us both rebuke (for our time-wasting idols such our tech gadgets) and encouragement (for our sincere efforts in parenting). His section on pride was particularly diagnostic and devastating to me, in the best sense of the word.
All the while, DeYoung implores His readers to reprioritize our lives around those things which matter most, including a more robust view of keeping sabbath (chapter 8). His concluding chapter "The One Thing You Must Do" is worth the price of the whole book. Here, DeYoung pleads with us to restore God to the central position of supremacy in our lives (and our calendars).
Some Quotes:
- Above all, I can lose sight of the good news that the universe is not upheld by the word of my power (see Heb 1:3). That's Christ's work, and no one else can do it. Hallelujah--he doesn't even expect me to try (p. 51).
- The person who never sets priorities is the person who does not believe in his own finitude (p. 57).
- Starting each day with eternity makes our petty problems and long to-do lists seem pretty insignificant (p. 116).
Thanks for the post, Matthew. I like the comment that you wife doesn't read the books you write. Some people seem to be able to write more than I read too!
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I just bought twenty of them to give away to all the crazy busy people in my life. Perhaps I should read it as well.
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