Living Into Focus

Arthur Boers is author of Living Into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distraction. And he knows what it’s like to struggle with busyness. He’s written a book about living well, believing that we’re not without choices as we confront the frantic pace of our lives. “I trust that sleepwalking is behind me and that more balanced and invigorating patterns of living are available to all of us,” he writes. “It remains possible to live well.”

Boers once pastored a church in which the congregation identified busyness as a key spiritual issue they were facing. The elders of the church agreed, but he jokes they were too busy to respond for a couple of years.

According to Boers, busyness is a discipleship issue. Busyness is a major challenge in most people’s lives. He points to experiments that show that busyness and haste leads us to be swept up in an agenda that isn’t God’s, or ours.

Not only is it a discipleship issue, but It’s also a missional issue. “If we are not living in substantially different ways from people in our culture,” he asks, “what do we have to offer? If we are not living in abundant ways, why would people want to join us?”

Boers encourages us to pay attention to our use of technology. “As devices and commodities move into the center, focal things become peripheral.” Boers is not against technology, but believes that we need to have discerning conversations about technology, and what our real priorities are.

He challenges pastors to face the issue of busyness in their lives and their churches. “Pastors, model what it means to live the life God has called us to, even at a cost.”

You can find out more about Living Into Focus at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.