Remove One Thing: Make Room for Jesus' Peace

Bob and Miranda’s baptism sets the tone by showing what a next step with Jesus looks like. Baptism declares Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and it says out loud that a person is “raised to walk a new life.” The public step is not just a church moment. It is a testimony that God brings people to trust him, go public with faith, and find a place in the family of God.

The hurried life then gets named for what it really is: busy. Busyness is not treated like some obvious sin that means every activity has to be thrown away. Good things can fill a life. Family, kids, work, serving, friends, church, and all kinds of valuable stuff can still become a platter too full to carry. The problem is not always bad things. The problem is that even good things can become a badge of honor.

Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes expose the engine underneath a lot of toil and achievement. Envy makes a person look sideways and start chasing what somebody else has. That kind of life is “chasing after the wind,” and nobody catches wind. Folding the hands and quitting ruins a person too, so the issue is not laziness versus activity. The better way is “one handful with tranquility” instead of two hands full of toil.

Proverbs presses the same point from another angle. Desire without knowledge sends hasty feet down the wrong path. A person can want more, do more, serve more, prove more, and still not know why any of it is happening. Folly leads to ruin, and then the heart rages against the Lord, even when the real problem is misplaced desire and self-made pressure.

Psalm 46 gives the needed correction: “Be still and know that I am God.” God is not one compartment on the calendar. God is the one who gives breath, owns every room, and deserves the place where nothing gets in front of him. A growing relationship with Jesus requires enough stillness to actually know him.

Jesus answers weary and burdened people with three words: “come to me.” Jesus does not crack a whip from behind. Jesus gets in the yoke beside the tired soul and carries what cannot be carried alone. Jesus was busy, but he was never hurried, and his life shows space for the woman in the crowd and the people others might rush past.

Hurry costs more than time. Hurry costs attention to God, tenderness toward people, health in family, peace in the soul, and margin for holy interruptions. The simple first step is to remove one thing, especially one thing done for somebody else’s approval or even for God’s approval. The hope is a life with enough room for a growing relationship with Jesus and enough margin for people.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Busyness can wear spiritual clothes Good activity can still become a way of begging for approval. A person can serve, work, help, and stay “eternally valuable” in appearance while forgetting that God has already given eternal value. The danger is subtle because the calendar can look noble while the heart is exhausted and afraid. [44:22]
• 2. Envy makes life chase wind Ecclesiastes names the restless comparison underneath much achievement. The hurried soul often wants another person’s life, another person’s success, or another person’s approval, and that desire sends the heart after something it can never hold. “Chasing after the wind” is not just frustrating. It is spiritually empty because envy keeps the heart looking sideways instead of upward. [50:15]
• 3. Jesus offers a shared yoke Jesus’ invitation is not “do more,” but “come to me.” His yoke means he stands beside the weary person, not behind that person with a whip. Rest comes because the burden is no longer carried as a solo act of proving worth, but as a life joined to the gentle and humble Christ. [62:40]
• 4. Hurry walks past sacred interruptions Hurry makes people look like obstacles instead of assignments of love. Jesus was busy, but he still stopped for the woman in the crowd, which means kingdom work often appears as an interruption to the planned route. A hurried life can miss the very person Jesus would have stopped for. [69:43]
• 5. Peace needs room to be heard The Holy Spirit is the Advocate who teaches, reminds, and gives the peace Jesus promised. A hurried heart may call God silent while running too fast to hear him. Removing one thing can become an act of faith, not because emptiness saves, but because space makes room for the voice and peace of God.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [32:38] - Miranda Takes Her Baptism Step
• [33:58] - Bob Goes Public With Faith
• [34:40] - Baptism Declares New Life
• [39:37] - Slowing Down To Think
• [43:01] - Naming The Busy Life
• [44:22] - When Busyness Becomes Approval
• [50:15] - Ecclesiastes And Chasing Wind
• [55:40] - Hasty Feet Miss The Way
• [57:52] - Be Still And Know God
• [60:29] - Come To Me, Weary Ones
• [67:32] - Busy, But Never Hurried
• [71:31] - Remove Just One Thing
• [77:25] - The Spirit Gives Peace
• [87:56] - Make Room This Week

1. In Ecclesiastes 4:4-6, what three ways of living are described, and which one is called better? [00:50:15]
2. According to Proverbs 19:2-3, what connection is made between desire, haste, missed direction, and ruin?
3. In Psalm 46:10, what two commands are given, and what does God say about himself after those commands? [00:57:52]
4. In Matthew 11:28-30, what does Jesus tell weary people to do, and what does he promise to give them? [01:02:40]

1. Ecclesiastes says that much toil can spring from envy. How can comparison make a person fill life with good things for the wrong reason? [00:54:09]
2. Proverbs warns that hasty feet miss the way. How can a person be doing many helpful, meaningful, or even spiritual things and still be headed in the wrong direction? [00:56:39]
3. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” What does that suggest about the kind of relationship with God that is hard to grow in a constantly hurried life? [00:59:39]
4. Jesus says, “Come to me,” and speaks of taking his yoke. What does it mean that Jesus stands beside the weary person instead of simply demanding more from that person? [01:03:24]

1. Where does life feel most hurried right now: work, family, kids, finances, church, or something else? What is that hurry costing in the soul, in close relationships, or in attention to God? [01:14:06]
2. Busyness can become a quiet way of asking for approval. Where is there a temptation to stay busy to prove worth to other people, or even to feel more acceptable before God? [00:44:22]
3. “Better is one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil.” What would “one handful” look like in this season? What is being carried right now that may simply be too much? [00:55:40]
4. Jesus was busy but never hurried, and hurry walks past people he would stop for. Who might be getting rushed past lately at home, at church, at work, or in public? [01:09:43]
5. God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” What kind of stillness is actually realistic this week: a slower morning, a quiet walk, a phone-free drive, a few minutes before bed? What would make that difficult? [00:58:12]
6. Removing one thing can be an act of faith. What is one specific thing that could be removed this week to make more room for a growing relationship with Jesus and more margin for people? [01:12:43]
7. The Holy Spirit teaches, reminds, and gives peace, but a hurried heart may struggle to hear. When does God’s peace feel hardest to notice, and what would it look like to slow down enough to listen? [01:17:25]