The Busy Christian’s Guide To Busyness (Paperback) by

You say ‘yes’ to requests when really you mean to say ‘no’? Do you feel permanently trapped by your 24/7 lifestyle?

While offering practical help to busy Christians, Tim Chester also opts for root–and–branch treatment: you need to deal radically with the things that are driving you.

If you’re busy because of the following; ‘I need to prove myself’; ‘Otherwise things get out of control’; ‘I like the pressure/money’; think again!

At the root of our ‘slavery’ are serious misunderstandings, often reinforced by our culture. If we want to be free, then we need to counteract them with God’s word. It’s important to manage our time, but it’s more important to manage our hearts.

God has promised his rest to all who are weary and burdened (Matthew 11:28). It’s up to us to accept it.

Title

The Busy Christian’s Guide To Busyness
Author(s)

Tim Chester
ISBN

9781844743025
Format

Paperback
Publisher

IVP
Topic

Life's Challenges, Work & Money
Pages

227
Published

06/01/2008

Tim Chester

Tim Chester is a pastor at Grace Church, Boroughbridge, UK, a tutor with the Acts 29 Oak Hill Academy, and is the author of over 30 books. He has a PhD in theology and was previously Research and Policy Director for Tearfund UK. He has been an adjunct lecturer in missiology and reformed spirituality. Tim is married to Helen and has two daughters.

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Overall rating

4.0 based on 1 review

The Busy Christian’s Guide To Busyness

Twelve chapters of 171 pages are made accessible to the busy reader by the repeated use of bullet points, numbered lists of provocative questions, frequent emboldened section headings, italicised bible quotations and tweet-able soundbites making it a book you can read in snatched moments without losing the thread of the author’s argument. Tim Chester starts by citing the problem of the busy Christian. What’s so wrong with being busy? Isn’t busy a good thing? Well, yes, until it begins to affect health, relationships and spiritual life. Our behaviour is driven by our beliefs but do we ever slow down enough to examine either? There’s a historically informative first chapter which talks us through a comparison of working patterns in pre and post-industrial life. We are then given a breakdown of attitudes to work and leisure beginning with the ancient Greeks and Romans through the transforming attitudes of the Reformation to today’s culture which ‘has made busyness a virtue’. For anyone tempted to place identity in activity, this book is a helpful read.

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