Stay. Be.
I tend to have a very "go" attitude. Definitely not a "stay" one. If you know me, even just as an acquaintance, you probably know my heart. More specifically, you probably know the location of my heart. You know where I long to be so deeply that it hurts sometimes, and you also probably know that I'm not there right now. I'm also not in the usual other place, that is, college. Nope, I'm at home. A place I literally have not lived at for longer than a month for 3 years. And right now, I would not have it any other way. Sure, I miss my MC peeps, and I miss a place and a culture over 10,000 miles away. Sure. Yet I know that right now, I'm called to stay. Called to be. Called to rest. Called to watch God do a work that has forced me to decrease, that he may increase. And I am content. Not a "I have to be content, and I am, but..." type contentment, which is not true contentment, but the contentment that only comes from hope in Christ, because this life is not what it is all about; this journey is temporal, yes it is important, but only if we are walking along the way of Christ. If we're doing anything else, we're fooling ourselves.
It's interesting to read how often Jesus called his disciples to wait or to stay or to pray or to be with him. Those are very inactive type things. It's definitely not a go, do this, do that, type action that Jesus first and foremost calls these guys to. And guess what? We're in the same boat. If you go further in the NT, you see Paul reminding Timothy, who was a guy after Paul's own heart, to stay in Ephesus and continue the work God is doing there, not moving on to another place (which is probably a thing he wanted to do).
But look at Jesus, when He calls "the twelve" to him in Mark 3:13-15. It says, "Jesus called together a select group of His followers and led them up onto a mountain. There he commissioned them the twelve. He wanted them to be with him. He sent them out to spread the good news and to cast out evil spirits and heal diseases."
The first reason he called these guys to himself was for them to be with Him. There's no action there. It means to be present, to be existent. It's also a subjunctive verb, which means it isn't a reality yet. There does have to be some action. Show up. Don't take your eyes off Him. Listen to Him. Soak it all up like a sponge. Sit still in His presence. That is what Jesus wanted and still wants, first and foremost, from us. And it's not meant to be something on our to-do list. It's meant to be a way of life! These disciples walked away from everything to be with Him. Not to please Him. Not to appease Him. But to be with Him.
Yes, then he sent them out. They then went out and did things, amazing things, things that only Jesus Himself could give them the power to do. Things that they could not take credit for. Things that when they didn't have quality time with him first, did not happen. Things that also were never meant to be apart of a to-do list. They were to flow naturally just from being with him. Period.
We so complicate things, yes? We do do and do to try and get ahead. I read some interesting verses over in 1st Timothy this morning:
Paul is talking to Timothy about people who have wandered from the truth and are teaching contrary to what Paul and Timothy have been teaching. "They think somehow that godliness is the way to get ahead. This is ironic because godliness, along with contentment, does put us ahead but not in the ways some imagine. You see, we came into this world with nothing, and nothing is going with us on the way out! So as long as we are clothed and fed we should be happy" (vs 5-8).
Godliness is all about Jesus. Not about our to-do lists. So let's put those things away and just look into His face and say, "I want to be with you. Nothing more, nothing less, just You. You are enough. I can't climb a ladder to get closer. I'm as close as I allow myself to be. And your cross made it possible for me to be right next to you, always and forever." Let's just be blown away with that and everything else will come as He continues to write His redemptive story, that we have gloriously been allowed to be apart of.
It's interesting to read how often Jesus called his disciples to wait or to stay or to pray or to be with him. Those are very inactive type things. It's definitely not a go, do this, do that, type action that Jesus first and foremost calls these guys to. And guess what? We're in the same boat. If you go further in the NT, you see Paul reminding Timothy, who was a guy after Paul's own heart, to stay in Ephesus and continue the work God is doing there, not moving on to another place (which is probably a thing he wanted to do).
But look at Jesus, when He calls "the twelve" to him in Mark 3:13-15. It says, "Jesus called together a select group of His followers and led them up onto a mountain. There he commissioned them the twelve. He wanted them to be with him. He sent them out to spread the good news and to cast out evil spirits and heal diseases."
The first reason he called these guys to himself was for them to be with Him. There's no action there. It means to be present, to be existent. It's also a subjunctive verb, which means it isn't a reality yet. There does have to be some action. Show up. Don't take your eyes off Him. Listen to Him. Soak it all up like a sponge. Sit still in His presence. That is what Jesus wanted and still wants, first and foremost, from us. And it's not meant to be something on our to-do list. It's meant to be a way of life! These disciples walked away from everything to be with Him. Not to please Him. Not to appease Him. But to be with Him.
Yes, then he sent them out. They then went out and did things, amazing things, things that only Jesus Himself could give them the power to do. Things that they could not take credit for. Things that when they didn't have quality time with him first, did not happen. Things that also were never meant to be apart of a to-do list. They were to flow naturally just from being with him. Period.
We so complicate things, yes? We do do and do to try and get ahead. I read some interesting verses over in 1st Timothy this morning:
Paul is talking to Timothy about people who have wandered from the truth and are teaching contrary to what Paul and Timothy have been teaching. "They think somehow that godliness is the way to get ahead. This is ironic because godliness, along with contentment, does put us ahead but not in the ways some imagine. You see, we came into this world with nothing, and nothing is going with us on the way out! So as long as we are clothed and fed we should be happy" (vs 5-8).
Godliness is all about Jesus. Not about our to-do lists. So let's put those things away and just look into His face and say, "I want to be with you. Nothing more, nothing less, just You. You are enough. I can't climb a ladder to get closer. I'm as close as I allow myself to be. And your cross made it possible for me to be right next to you, always and forever." Let's just be blown away with that and everything else will come as He continues to write His redemptive story, that we have gloriously been allowed to be apart of.
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