Customer Reviews

The Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness

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This is one outstanding book. I've been looking for a book like this for awhile now, and I'm thankful for Tim Chester's clear and concise discussion of busyness in the Christian life. As a pastor I often ask people how they are doing, and most of the time the answer I get has something to do with being too busy. This book addresses that problem from a God-centered and biblical perspective.

Here's a breakdown of the chapters. The first six chapters (pages 9-86) discuss the anatomy of busyness, managing time, sorting priorities, and glorifying God as the Christian's chief end. Basically, the first part deconstructs busyness and offers a biblical perspective on living a Christ-centered life specifically applied to our calendars and schedules.

The second part of the book (pages 87-171) is a bit more in-depth as Chester talks about six reasons why so many Christians are busy: 1) the need to prove ourselves, 2) the need to meet people's expectations, 3) the need to control everything in life, 4) the pleasure of being under pressure, 5) the chasing of money, and 6) the desire to live a full, exciting life. With a short conclusion Chester sums the book up by recapping his emphases on resting in, serving, trusting, rejoicing in, and waiting for God.

I appreciated Chester's illustrations and examples of people's hectic lives - he did his homework! Furthermore, scattered throughout the book are meditations on Psalms which I thought were very helpful and applicable. In summary, I really cannot recommend this book enough. This is a book I will not hesitate to give to those Christians who are overly busy to the point of stress and depression. It is very readable and easy to understand. As Chester says in the intro, "If you're serious about tackling your busy behaviour you'll have to put your own heart in the picture." This book will help you do just that.