The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world

Since Comer is a Christian pastor, many of his reflections derive from the inspiration of his faith, which is centered on the person of Jesus Christ. In The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Jesus is presented both as a historical figure and as the spiritual focus of the life of faith. While Comer clearly believes classic Christian doctrines about Jesus, such as his death for humanity’s sins and his resurrection from the dead, Comer’s focus in this book is on Jesus’s life and teachings. Comer frequently speaks of Jesus as his “rabbi,” and of himself as an “apprentice” of Jesus, learning the right way to live from observing the pattern of his master’s life. As such, certain historical details of Jesus’s life are frequently mentioned, particularly his itinerant ministry of teaching and healing in the provinces of Galilee and Judea (modern Israel) in the first century CE.

Comer presents Jesus as the wisest of teachers, someone who not only gives good advice, but who actually bears the remedy for our souls’ afflictions. As such, while traditional Christian claims regarding the divinity of Jesus are not stressed in the book, they nonetheless underlie much of the way the content is presented. The implication of Comer’s presentation is that readers should pay heed to Jesus’s teachings on time, money, relationships, and life because he knows how humanity was made, how the universe works, and what we really need to be able to thrive in this life, all knowledge that can only derive from his divinity. Somewhat atypically, however, Comer does not present following Jesus in the familiar verbiage of faith, believing, and salvation, but of apprenticing oneself to Jesus’s way of life—following him, quite literally, in the way he practiced daily life with his original community of disciples in ancient Galilee and Judea.

John Ortberg is a prominent Christian pastor, speaker, and author. Until 2020, he was the pastor of Menlo Church (previously Menlo Park Presbyterian Church) in Menlo Park, California, an evangelical megachurch.

Ortberg earned graduate and doctoral degrees from Fuller Seminary and pastored several churches in California before moving to Illinois to join the pastoral team at the most influential American megachurch at the time, Willow Creek Community Church. From there he took his position at Menlo Park in 2003, concurrently with finding growing success in his writing. He is the author of several notable books of Christian spirituality, including The Life You’ve Always Wanted (1997) and If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat (2001). After being a leading voice in the evangelical movement and in the developing interest on spiritual formation, Ortberg resigned from his ministry in 2020 under the shadow of allegations of mismanaging a situation at his church, specifically with regard to his adult son’s participation in ministries which may have put minors at risk of improper behavior and sexual abuse.

Comer’s many references to Ortberg in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (published before Ortberg’s resignation in 2020) present him as a friend and mentor. While Comer raves about Ortberg’s knowledge, wisdom, and insight, he does not lavish attention on Ortberg’s ministry credentials so much as on the personal impact which Ortberg has had on Comer’s own situation. Comer relates that he frequently talks with Ortberg, seeking his counsel regularly, just as Ortberg for years sought the counsel of another significant Christian figure, Dallas Willard.