Being Still in God’s Presence

Being Still in God’s Presence

By: Shelby Simmons

For a long time now, there seems to be a lesson that I have to re-learn over and over. And I know I’m not alone. We move throughout our days making sure we are consistently kind, helpful, giving, loving, patient… we want to be the full expression of the fruits of the Spirit. But why do some of us focus on this so intensely? Is the reason all because we want people to see Christ living and working in us? I’m sure that is a big part of it. But I think we can get sidetracked from that most important reason. Somehow, and very easily, our incentive for behaving in what we think is a “Christ-like” way becomes all about pleasing and impressing others.

We all want to be liked. This desire to be liked is very heavy in some of us and other people can use that to manipulate us into going over and beyond the call of duty of what it is to be a friend. We can even run our minds and bodies ragged by constantly trying to please and impress the people around us. It’s as if we feel like we have to prove that we have a Godly character. Sometimes we don’t even realize how much importance we place on what other people (especially other Christians) think about us.

In the process of trying to have a Christ-like attitude and being giving and compassionate towards others, we can end up hurting ourselves and our own relationship with God. Time spent worrying about the day’s events and having to always provide assistance to others encroaches on our time spent with God. When we don’t get much of a chance to connect with the Lord on a regular basis, we begin to attribute people’s opinions of us to God, as if they were His opinions. This is where Satan can sneak in. If the enemy can’t get our minds totally off of God, than he tries to confuse us into believing that it is incredibly difficult to receive God’s love—that we have to labor for it. Just like how we might feel that we have to earn people’s respect. This is to distract us, make us work even harder, and keep our minds in a worried and fretful state.

This is not a new problem. We can see in the Bible how some people got distracted by things and actions that they believed to be worthy—that they believed God would find valuable. We see this in the story of Mary and Martha, when Jesus visited them in their home. Martha was busily preparing the meal while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him. When Martha complained to Jesus that her sister was not helping her, Jesus corrected Martha and showed her that there was only one thing worth being concerned about.

Just as Martha looked down on her sister, we might begin to look down on others for not being as active or “compassionate” as we think we are. This type of attitude can be a vicious cycle, because the whole reason that we work in a foolish frenzy is probably because someone once judged us.

But then there are those who turn most of their judgment internally. They are the type of people who truly are compassionate toward others—perhaps too compassionate—and they don’t even recognize how harshly they are condemning themselves. It’s almost as if they leave no compassion, no forgiveness, for themselves.

Satan wants God to be so out of focus for us that we begin to hurriedly go about our lives, worry, judge others, and condemn ourselves. All the while Christ is waiting to restore our minds, our bodies, our souls. We must be just as careful of judging others as condemning ourselves. We will find the truth about ourselves when we choose to be still in reverence of God. Yes, we are to be servants to others, but with Christ, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. He just wants YOU. Let us allow God to reveal to us the pride He has in us, the beauty He sees in us. As an article called The Secret of Silence in the book Come Away My Beloved puts it, God just wants you to LIVE with HIM as a PERSON.