When You Don't Like People: Time

The question, “Who are your people if you don’t like people?” presses into the folks God keeps putting in a life, including the ones who make the day harder. The barrier of time sits right in the middle of that calling, because caring for people takes time, and most lives already feel like the white rabbit: “I’m late. I’m late for a very important date.”

The white rabbit image tells the truth about a hurried life that has “no time to say hello, goodbye.” Modern life has not slowed down since Alice in Wonderland was written. Fragmentation has made the problem worse, because work people, neighborhood people, church people, friends, and family often live in separate worlds. The multiplication of texts, calls, emails, and notifications means more people can reach into the same twenty-four hours.

The old answer, “it will get better soon,” does not hold up very well. The work project ends, and another one shows up. The school season ends, and the work season begins. Genesis names the deeper problem: after Adam, toil fills life “by the sweat of the brow,” and that reality probably stays until heaven.

Time management can help, especially when a limited creature learns to say no and remembers that only God is Almighty. But the deeper biblical answer is not just a better calendar. Sabbath means cease, stop, knock it off, put it down. God built interruptions into life as a gift, even before sin entered the world.

The pattern of Scripture shows God doing major work through interruptions. Abraham and Sarah stop for three strangers and receive the promise of Isaac. Wells become places where ordinary chores turn into divine meetings. Jesus lets himself be interrupted on the way to a dying girl, and that delay becomes the place where he shows that he can do more than heal, because he can raise the dead.

Luke’s long road to Jerusalem shows Jesus moving with purpose but still stopping along the way. The Good Samaritan, Mary and Martha, the Prodigal Son, and Zacchaeus all happen because the road has room for holy interruptions. Acts keeps the same pattern, as disruption, conflict, arrest, shipwreck, and happenstance become the strange way the gospel moves outward.

Kronos time marks the schedule, but kairos time carries meaning. The call is not to cram one more thing into an already maxed-out day. The call is to keep lamps burning, invite God into the day, examine the day at night, and stay ready when an interruption turns out to be God’s hand at work.

##

Key Takeaways

• 1. Toil will not magically end. Genesis tells the hard truth that life east of Eden includes sweat, pressure, and unfinished work. The hope that everything will slow down after the next project, season, or family demand usually becomes one more way the heart postpones obedience. The Christian life needs a more honest hope than an empty calendar, because the end of toil belongs to heaven, not next Thursday. [43:13]
• 2. Sabbath means knock it off. Sabbath is not mainly a religious word for a certain day on the calendar. It means cease, stop, put it down, and quit acting like every email and errand has ultimate authority. God gives holy interruption as mercy, because the world may not slow down, but a human creature can stop and seek his face. [36:03]
• 3. God often works through interruptions. Abraham’s visitors, the meetings at wells, and Jesus stopping for the woman in the crowd all show that God’s work often arrives off schedule. An interruption can feel like delay, inefficiency, or somebody getting in the way. Yet the kingdom often breaks in right there, when the planned road gets interrupted by a person God wants noticed. [37:38]
• 4. Kairos matters more than Kronos. Kronos asks what time an event starts, but kairos asks what meaning God is giving that moment. A graduation at 7PM is one kind of time, but a granddaughter graduating is another kind altogether. Spiritual maturity learns to notice when a moment carries weight, instead of treating every item on the calendar as equally ultimate. [48:54]
• 5. Invitation opens the day to God. A simple morning prayer can ask God to be present in the day and make the heart sensitive to whatever he might do. The word “whatever” matters, because God’s surprises are not always the interruptions a person would have chosen. That kind of prayer does not force God’s hand, but it can make a busy heart less likely to miss him.
  
  ## [51:02]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [21:13] - Who Are Your People?
• [23:02] - Time as a Barrier
• [23:30] - The White Rabbit Life
• [26:02] - Fragmented Lives and Constant Contact
• [30:24] - The Lie of “It Gets Better Soon”
• [32:39] - Time Management and Creaturely Limits
• [34:23] - Toil After Eden
• [36:03] - Sabbath Means Stop
• [37:38] - God Works Through Interruptions
• [40:52] - Jesus Takes the Long Way
• [45:59] - Teachable Moments and Sticky Memories
• [48:54] - Kronos and Kairos Time
• [51:02] - Morning Invitation Prayer
• [54:11] - Evening Examen Practice
• [56:40] - A Four Hour Kairos Gift

1. The sermon compared modern busyness to the “white rabbit” from Alice in Wonderland. What specific phrases or images from that story illustrate the problem of hurried living? ([23:30])
2. In Luke 8:40-56, Jesus is interrupted by a woman while en route to heal a dying girl. What two miracles occur in this interruption, and how do they reveal God’s power?
3. According to Genesis 3:19, why does toil persist in human life, and how does this contrast with the hope that life will “slow down soon”? ([34:23])

1. Abraham’s interruption by three strangers (Genesis 18) led to the promise of Isaac. Why might God choose to work through unplanned encounters rather than rigid schedules?
2. The sermon contrasts Kronos (clock time) and Kairos (meaningful moments). How does Jesus’ “long road to Jerusalem” in Luke 9-19 exemplify prioritizing Kairos over Kronos? ([40:52])
3. Sabbath is described as “ceasing,” not just resting. How does intentionally stopping work create space to notice God’s interruptions? ([36:03])

1. The sermon warns against saying, “It’ll get better soon” to justify postponing care for others. What current season of busyness are you tempted to “wait out” instead of engaging people God has placed in your life? ([30:24])
2. Try the “morning invitation prayer” this week: “God, open my heart to whatever You might do today.” What practical step could help you remember to pray this daily? ([51:02])
3. Reflect on a recent interruption (e.g., a delayed task, an unplanned conversation). How might God have been at work in that moment, even if it felt inconvenient?
4. Sabbath requires saying “no” to something to say “yes” to God. What one activity or responsibility could you intentionally pause this week to create space for rest or connection?
5. The story of the uncle’s four-hour visit ([56:40]) turned a routine trip into a Kairos moment. Who in your life might need a small, intentional gesture of care, even if it disrupts your schedule?