Miles McNair

Do you remember the story in the Gospels where Martha was cumbered about with so much serving that she failed to sit at the feet of Jesus and just learn? Well, that is often the case with you and me as Christians — we often get busy doing and forget to just be still and learn from the father. Why is this? In my mind, it is two things. The first reason that I think we fail at being still is that we don’t feel like we are getting anything done. It is nice to check boxes. It is nice at the end of the day to look back and say, “Wow look at all that was done today.” It sure is hard to look back at the end of the day of being still in the word, prayer and meditation and say, “Wow I really knocked a lot of stuff out today!” Secondly, being productively still is so much harder than being in motion. It is hard to sit and read and ponder and pray and stay at it for an extended period of time. Thoughts creep in. Am I wasting my time? What else could I be doing? Why did God make lizards? Some lizards can grow back their tails! I wish I had a tail that could grab things. It is hard to stay on task, it is just easier to work and see results. 

So then how do we rectify this? To start with, let’s reorient our thinking about being still. Let us remind ourselves that time spent in study, prayer and meditation is work and it produces growth. We are abiding, we are maintaining the vine that delivers spiritual nourishment. Time spent with the father is never a waste of time. When we are still but active in the pursuit of God we are accomplishing a necessary task, we are being revitalized and we are being molded more into the image of the son. When this happens we are better able to serve out of the working of the spirit, we will be doing things for the kingdom rather than doing things from the flesh. So when next confronted with the choice, choose the better part, the harder part. Be still. 

(Miles McNair is the connections pastor at New Life Church of Powell.)