BeStill

National Superintendent: Rev. Brett Jones

You and I are hard wired for doing. It’s a huge part of what makes us human. We’re uniquely created for observing and understanding our world and then acting within it to make change. We’re constantly challenging ourselves to move from “A”, our current reality, to “B” our preferred future. Virtually nothing we do is done without some kind of gain in mind.

We celebrate achievements across all fields of human endeavour. This makes a lot of sense in some areas – like sport which is really designed to recognise the best do-ers in the physical realm. Gold medals. World champions. MVP’s. Statistics galore that recognise the primacy of doing and that some doing is better than other doing.

Sports brands celebrate this “just do it” attitude – Nike is successful with its brand strategy not just because it’s catchy but because it’s true. Adidas went with “impossible is nothing” and I’m still trying to work out whether it’s a bad translation from German or a Yoda impression gone wrong. But the heart of the message is still: you –can – do – anything.

Now this kind of measurement is less helpful in say the arts where the ranking of doing is so much more subjective – how do you compare the artistic merits of “Top Gun: Maverick” with the stark confrontation of racial violence in “Till”? Of Ed Sheeran and Marvin Gaye (too soon)?

And it has its perils for us humans as well. It’s one thing to measure doing. It’s quite another thing to measure our being by our doing. As if we are human doings rather than human beings. Which is where the just do it mentality can cause us challenges. Because if we are what we do the chances are that when failure occurs then we see it as a failure of who we are rather than simply what we do. And this substitution – measuring who we are by what we do will rob us off an essential part of our humanity.

We know this mentality is part of our life when:

Work becomes the way we measure our self-worth Family life becomes the way in which we measure our self worth

Spiritual activity becomes the way in which we measure our self worth

Psalm 46:10 offers us the antidote to our doing. “Be still and know that I am God. ” Don’t DO anything, just be. Still. And in the stillness discover knowledge of God that surpasses our doing, our striving, our performing. It’s counter intuitive that it's in our not doing that we are doing what matters most.

I am grateful for local churches investing in pastors for the Refresh retreat at the end of May (26-28 May). Investing in an opportunity for stillness. Would you pray with us as we engage our theme: Be Still and Know that I am God?