We are in a day and age that wants to DO, to push forward with great activity and noise. “Bluster”, as A.W. Tozer calls it. We want rewards and acknowledgement for our good deeds, we want attention and accolades.
With enough scrambling around, with enough “doing” of good deeds for the holiday season, we should feel some joy and love for fellow mankind, right? If we could just do enough:
decorate perfectly and beautifully
serve gourmet food on gorgeous table settings
buy just the right gift for all 225 people on our gift list
give to charity and bring meals to the poor
help with the Sunday School play
practice with the church choir
attend all the parties
In contrast, God wants us to rest quietly in Him. He wants us to cultivate a practice of serene and calm waiting; waiting for His presence and His fellowship. He wants us to develop an eternal perspective, one that sees our life on earth as only a moment compared to our life in eternity.
We don’t have to rush and push and hurry to get it all done, putting our time with Him into a tiny corner of our over-packed schedule. God will see to it that all that needs to be accomplished does get done. He will winnow out the overload of busy-ness if we simply slow down and rest in His presence for a time.
Taking time for God each day is not taking time away from what we “should” be doing. Giving our time to God means He will make the rest of our day fruitful for Him. It is just like tithing. If we cling to our money, or our time, or any resource, believing we don’t have enough to go around, we’ll be right. We won’t. If we give those resources freely back to God, He will bless what is left over and it will be enough.
When I’m feeling overwhelmed with too much to do before me, the temptation is to try and handle all myself. I try to be more organized, more productive. I bemoan my lack of discipline or my tendency toward laziness and resolve to try harder: to work harder, more efficiently.
Christ Centered Christmas
In the upcoming hectic holiday season there are so many voices calling out for our time, our attention and our money. The pressure builds, the stress increases and exhaustion starts to creep in until our attitude becomes “let’s just get this holiday over with already!”
All the while Jesus is standing calmly beside us calling our name and inviting us to sit quietly in His presence.
We can’t manufacture the joy of Christmas within ourselves. We can’t stir it up like a batch of sugar cookies. We can only accept it as a gift: the gift Jesus offers us if we would only stop long enough to hear His voice and accept His invitation.