When the Urgent Drowns Out the Important

Wiser Than the Children of Light

In Luke 16 Jesus tells a story that seems odd at first glance: the parable of the unjust steward. A dishonest employee, caught misusing his master’s resources, quickly cuts deals with his master’s debtors to secure his own future. Instead of condemning him outright, Jesus surprises us: “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8).

It’s a striking statement. Jesus isn’t praising dishonesty; He’s exposing a contrast. The people of this world plan, hustle, and prepare for the future, even if it’s only a temporary one. The people of God, meanwhile, often act carelessly or naively about eternal priorities.

Lately I’ve realized that as the “children of light,” we can act with sincerity yet lack strategy. We react to the loudest demands in our lives instead of responding to what truly matters. And that’s where the Eisenhower Matrix has something to teach us.

Lessons From Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five-star general and later the thirty-fourth president of the United States, once said, “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” He developed a framework that leaders and CEOs still use today to prioritize their time: the Eisenhower Matrix, which divides tasks into four categories:[1]

1. Urgent and Important—Do it now.

2. Not Urgent but Important—Plan it.

3. Urgent but Not Important—Delegate it.

4. Not Urgent and Not Important—Delete it.

The world’s most effective leaders know that their success depends on dedicating time to category 2 activities—the nonurgent but important. These are the strategic, long-term investments that never scream for attention but quietly shape the future.

For most humans, including Christians, this is often where our deepest neglect lies. Unless they are our little children, the most important things seldom scream for our attention. We are bombarded with urgent to-do’s, but not all of them are important. The nonurgent important things, however, are the spiritual disciplines, health practices, and relationship investments that rarely feel pressing and are easy to procrastinate: prayer, study, exercise, reflection, time with a spouse or family member, unhurried conversation with friends. These rarely appear as emergencies on our calendar, yet they define the health of our soul and the direction of our lives.

Jesus and the Pace of Grace

Mark 1:35 shows Jesus doing just that: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (NIV).

The verse sounds quiet and uneventful, but it was a cornerstone of His ministry. That morning, crowds were already forming, miracles were waiting, and the disciples were brimming with plans. Yet Jesus had withdrawn to pray. When the disciples found Him, anxious that He was “wasting time,” He calmly replied, “Let us go into the next towns” (verse 38).

We are not called to be slaves to our urges; we are called to be led by the Spirit.

Because Jesus had already anchored Himself in what was most important, He could resist what merely felt urgent. His time alone with the Father clarified His direction and protected Him from being ruled by other people’s expectations.

A slave to urgency is a slave to his urges. Urgency often disguises our struggle with anxiety, fear, or avoidance. But we are not called to be slaves to our urges; we are called to be led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). When the Spirit leads, there is direction without drivenness, movement without mania, fruitfulness without frenzy. Jesus models a life centered on what is essential, one that can say no to the urgent because it has already said yes to the eternally important.

Redeeming Our Time

The shrewd manager used worldly wisdom to secure a temporary future. Jesus calls us to use spiritual wisdom to invest in an eternal one. The goal is to become not merely busier for God but wiser with what He’s given us.

What if we treated our lives with the same seriousness that entrepreneurs give their startups or athletes give their training? What if we scheduled time with God, cared for our health, and invested in loved ones, not as “when there’s time left over,” but as essential commitments?

The twenty-first-century world we live in will always offer a thousand distractions to keep us in a constant state of hurry. Jesus’ way is different. It invites us to pause, to pray, and to prioritize what produces lasting fruit.

Adventist pioneer James White, whose life was cut short by an unrelenting pursuit of the urgent, offered this reflection two weeks before his death—words captured by his wife, Ellen White:

“From this time,” he continued, “I will be free in God. I have allowed business to hurry and burden me, so that I have had little time to pray. Here I have erred. The Lord does not desire us to be in so great a hurry. He can use us to better effect if we take time to pray, to study the Bible, and to praise His name. . . . I must cultivate sympathy and patience. With me, to be still requires more grace than to be active in the battle. ‘Peace, be still!’ This is the lesson I will learn.”[2]

So before the next wave of demands hits, take inventory: which parts of your life are ruled by urgency, and which are rooted in importance? Are you being pushed by fear, guilt, and the pressure to perform, or will you choose to be led by the pace of grace?

[1] Laura Scroggs, “The Eisenhower Matrix,” www.todoist.com, accessed Oct. 30, 2025, https://www.todoist.com/productivity-methods/eisenhower-matrix.

[2] Ellen G. White, In Memoriam: A Sketch of the Last Sickness and Death of Elder James White (Battle Creek, Mich.: Review and Herald Press., 1881), pp. 48, 49.