Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”
Our Bible verse for today: “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 TEV
Our thought for today: “We need a simpler lifestyle”
One of the books I was reading while on vacation was called “Replenish” by Lance Witt. The subtitle is “Leading from a Healthy Soul”. It was written primarily for pastors but the lessons apply to all of us. In one chapter Lance told a story that I and every other pastor can immediately identify with. It was about the phone call that comes at 3:00 AM regarding an emergency someone is going through. Lance told the story on himself but I’ve been guilty of this identical thing. The caller begins with “Pastor, I’m sorry to wake you but …” And I interrupted with, “That’s ok, I wasn’t sleeping”.
That, of course, was a lie. I was sleeping. I was sound asleep and I was enjoying it. So why did I say I wasn’t? Let me be clear that I did not intentionally lie to the person. The words were out of my mouth before I even realized I was saying them. However after thinking about it I realized I made that statement for two reasons. One was that I didn’t want the person to feel bad about waking me up, so I told them I wasn’t asleep anyway. But the second reason was I realized that I kind of liked projecting the image that I’m Super Pastor, I don’t sleep. Even at 3:00 AM I’m awake and I’m praying for you.
Many of us, me included, wear our busyness like a badge of honor. We think it makes us look important. People need us, we have responsibilities, things won’t get done (or get done right) without my involvement. However by living like that, over time we develop a hurried spirit. Even in those rare moments when the body is still, the mind is racing and the soul is unsettled. This is toxic. It damages the soul.
Lance tells the story of how when white men first started to come to Africa the Swahili invented a unique term to describe them – “mazungu”, or “one who spins around.” Many of you reading this, and the one writing it, could fairly be called “mazungus” – we spend much of our time spinning like tops.
In the NIV Psalm 46:10 only contains eight words, twenty four letters, but it is profoundly convicting, “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.”
Quiet time with the Lord helps to remind us that we don’t have to be productive all the time, we don’t have to always be doing things. In truth, we would actually end up being more productive and more effective if we would just spend a little more time doing nothing except sitting quietly with the Lord. We would then be refreshed and refocused and reenergized.
God has made us plain and simple, and that’s the way He wants us. We’re the ones who have made ourselves so darn complicated.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 