Be still and know
that I am God.
Psalm 46:10
This is a simple reminder to be.
On your own, as a community of worshipers, as a person treasured deeply by the creator.
It’s why we begin our weekly gatherings with a time of worship through music, to acknowledge the truths about God and be together in his presence.
You might find that it’s against our worldly nature, to simply be. We want to do, to be productive, to be moving and going and proving and solving. We want to get the answer or start another project that will keep us feeling important.
We want to be known in our worlds as successful contributors and doers.
Yet sometimes our productivity isn’t actually productive at all – just busy work that keeps us constantly chasing the next check mark.
In our infrequent attempts to simply be in the presence of our creator—even our times in corporate worship—our minds quickly stray to one of the million micro-problems that we’ve created for ourselves.
Oh, I forgot to send that email.
Shoot, the dog is probably hungry
Where did I put my phone? I’ll need that when I’m done doing this “being” thing.
Shoot, I’m hungry.
Did I tell them what time to meet for lunch?
I just need to text them real quickly.
Oh, the ways our minds can go.
We heard a message a few weeks ago about rest and the Sabbath. In this great message we were reminded that God designed a Sabbath day to give the Israelites the opportunity to rest, the opportunity to remember that they were a chosen people of God and no longer forced to live under the bondage of doing. God had rescued them from being enslaved by forceful, physical labor and unrealistic demands of productivity.
He pursued them, delivered them out of that bondage and invited them to be content with their identity as God’s chosen people.
He is also pursuing us to cling to Jesus and leave the bondage of doing (and being consumed with technology) and find contentment and purpose in our identity and relationship with him.
Without this balance, we are ticking time bombs of exhaustion and melt down. We are prone to constant comparison, constant consumerism, criticism and complaint. We lose sight of our own worth and where our worth is found; we forget to remember who we are and the important role we play in a much bigger story.
I will be the first one to raise my hand and say that I know this is hard to do. It is hard because God’s ways are not the world’s ways, and his thoughts are far greater than our thoughts. And AMEN to that. God knows our purpose and potential, and we are constantly trying to figure out what that is – often being exercised in a series of to-do lists. We are trying to meet and balance an American culture that will never slow down with the intangible and ethereal idea of being.
I want to encourage you to take a day, whether or not you officially “call” it a Sabbath, and focus more on actually living as a human being rather than a human doing.
Let's be encouraged together in our community worship.
Let's be reminded of the truths of God.
Let's be reminded of our own relationship with him as our creator.
Jamie
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