With Hands Behind Your Back

On not getting ahead of God

Very early in my career as a theologian, I began noticing that whenever I read a book by some young, emerging thinker or communicator, I would immediately find myself looking online to see how old they were. My search to locate their age was by no means innocent. In part, what I was doing was trying to find out where I stood in light of their success. I did this because, somewhere in my past, I’d come to believe the deception that true “success” came through being the youngest person to do this or that, or by becoming “successful” by this or that age. Midlife has fixed this for me, if for no other reason than that I’ve had to embrace the reality that my rubric for “success” was both faulty and dangerous to my soul.

I put the word “success” in quotes because what God thinks of as success and what we think of as “success” tend to be wildly far apart. Success, in God’s kingdom, is a life of worship of God, of total abandonment to the ways of the Spirit, of submitted love for brother and sister, of kindness, mercy, truth, honesty, and detachment from sin and addiction. But in Satan’s kingdom, of course, success looks very, very different.

In Satan’s kingdom, we are always haunted by the belief that we are behind.

History has set the table for this mischievous belief. In the last one hundred years or so (particularly since the Industrial Revolution), Christian theologians have routinely published books that have sought to reckon with one of the major changes the revolution brought: mostly, the revolution of time. Since the 1700s, the concept of time has been reframed around a purely mathematical understanding of time. Time is no longer God’s intention or moment for something. Time is the round device on the wall which slowly hums the seconds, minutes, and hours.

Time is a clock in our world.

Photo by Anton Tseiko

But time is different to God.

One of these theologians, Robert Banks, wrote a prophetic little book in 1983 called The Tyranny of Time. He argued that not only was the Western concept of time (hours, minutes, and seconds) completely out of step with the biblical vision of time, but that it is also inherently harmful to the human person. Because we seek to squeeze as much activity and accomplishment out of every last drop of a day, we end up damaging our bodies, souls, emotions, and relationships. Banks was not arguing for laziness. In fact, he says that the Christian gospel comes to free us from both enslavement to inactivity and hyperproductivity. He writes:

A genuinely Christian perspective endorses neither a laid-back outlook nor a fast pace, developing instead a measure of each in a fully integrated life. It idolises neither spontaneity nor organisation, but allows room for expression of both when appropriate. It frees us from our enslavement to the clock, but does not ignore the need to sensibly measure time. It encourages a freer, more flexible approach to life, but not at the expense of inner consistency or public relevance.¹

Banks, among others, would say that a Christian concept of time must entail a ruthless commitment to seeking, at every moment of our lives, to attune ourselves to what God is doing. This requires prayer, attentiveness, and flexibility. This doesn’t mean we don’t show up to work on time. Of course we do. But it does mean that, in seeking to live in a world of clocks, we constantly seek to discern the divinely orchestrated purpose of the moment in which we find ourselves.

I find this pattern in Scripture, where there is a persistent and strong critique of human efforts to get ahead of Jesus. Paul warns against jumping ahead of Christ. As The Message paraphrases 1 Cor. 4:5, “So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers.” John the apostle warns people about “running ahead” and “not continuing in the teaching of Christ.” (2 Jn. 1:9) If we do run ahead, he warns, we do not run ahead with God. Paul’s entire theological method is based on “not going beyond what is written.” (1 Cor. 4:6) Jesus even warned Peter to “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mt. 16:23)

These, I believe, are stern warnings about Satan’s method, ways, and kingdom. He always wants to get ahead of what God is doing.

A friend said to me this week that he always “feels behind.” He is constantly living in the shadow of others, of what he could be doing, and of what he should be doing. But doesn’t that whole attitude—which we all have from time to time—carry the unmistakable scent of a kingdom that is not God’s? Indeed, when we are in Christ, we do not need to live our lives based on what the clock may say about us.

When we are in Christ, we are never behind.

The Christian life is different. Someone recently told me that when they would walk with Dallas Willard, the great writer on spiritual formation, he would always walk with his hands behind his back. They asked him why. He responded, “You’ll never see someone run with their hands behind their back.” It was his prophetic way of strolling through—not rushing through—life. I’ve been trying it. It works. And it is true. It is really hard to rush with your hands behind your back.

Kingdom people live like they’re always on time.

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Thanks, as always, for being a supporter and reader of the Low-Level Theologian. You can always find me wasting as little time as possible on Instagram and Facebook. Or, check out my podcast with Dr. Nijay Gupta at Slow Theology. Remember my most recent book, entitled Slow Theology: Eight Practices for Resilient Faith in a Turbulent World. See below! Also, consider studying theology with me at Bushnell University in our Master of Theology and Culture program.

1. Banks, Robert, The Tyranny of Time (Lancer Books, 1983), 194.