Matthew 14:23 (ESV)
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the
mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
Silence is a stranger to most of us. To discover silence,
we have to be like Jesus and go off to find a place where we can turn off the
cell phone and the TV, a place with no bustling businesses or chattering people
to deal with. The Lord calls us to this silence as much as He calls us to be
with one another. What should our times of silence and being alone before the
Lord consist of? This is where the prayer life of Jesus is such a profound
example for us. Jesus shows us that these times of intimacy must first center
on being quiet and listening.
We cannot put God in a box and make our relationship with
Him a formula. But if we are going to follow the example of Jesus, we must get
alone with God and silence ourselves. The silence that He invites us into is a
silence of listening, a respectful stillness before our God. This kind of
silence brings great joy, clarity, and purity to our lives.
Finding stillness may be one of the greatest challenges in
our relationships with Christ and our prayer lives. There are two great hindrances
we face every day in our search for stillness: our busy lifestyles and the
constant noise of our culture. Are you busy? Where are you on the Facebook
addiction scale? Enough said.
As simple as it may seem, we find stillness by making a
choice, deciding to sit down away from all the clamor of our life and
technology. God bestowed on us free will; it is not an illusion. We are not
victims of our culture. We have control over the way we respond to everything
that comes our way.
The science of neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to
reorganize itself by developing new neural connections) makes it very clear
that when we make a decision, we change the matter in our brain. It is the
scientific confirmation of God’s Word: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is
he” (Proverbs 23: 7). Every time we steal away with the Lord in quiet retreat,
we transform and renew our minds and conform to the communication pathways of
the kingdom (Romans 12: 1-2). And it is in the stillness that our zeal for the
Lord and His ways is given the chance to grow.
Dear Lord, help us to be still. Help us to transform and
renew our minds. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment