Prayer for Today

Father, deliver me from my self-importance and insistence that things be done my way. Forgive my compulsive rush to achieve and succeed -- even for You. Instead, slow me down enough to hear You. Teach me to be still and know You. In this moment, incline my heart a little more towards You that Your purposes might be fulfilled and Your name be exalted. Amen.

 Hope Happenings

Laure Close, our VP for Business and Finance has resigned after 25 years of faithful service to the University. She and her husband will be moving to Thailand in 2010. Please pray for that person whom the Lord will raise up to fill this strategic position.

  Now Available

“Be still and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meaningful Uselessness

Our stillness is His opportunity.

Yet, most of us stop only long enough to recover from weariness or to plan the next exploit. We don’t value stillness. We tolerate it. Even vacations must be packed with an itinerary, events, destinations, and activities. Any lull represents a void to fill, a potentially lost moment.

Besides, some argue, we have a mission. We can rest for eternity. Now is the time to press ahead, live to the full, and achieve great things.

Yes … and no.

We’ve grown so convinced of our own importance that we’ve started to believe our own assertions. “If it’s going to be; it’s up to me!” We set targets and goals constantly. After all, “He who aims for nothing shall surely hit it.” Nothing unsettles some of us more than the prospect of a life half-lived; no thrills, spills, risks, or achievements. And so, in typical secular (“excluding God”) fashion, we set about to eliminate the “dead spots.”

Yet, Scripture challenges this mindset.

God’s purposes rarely align with the values of this world. He considers the broken and the least to be the most useful in His hands. He places higher value on our attentiveness than on our acuity. He does not invite us to take charge but to respond. He puts a premium on our obedience above our abilities.

We can hardly believe it. In fact, we don’t. So, we exercise our sharp minds and our best abilities in His service; ready to proudly report on our efforts and successes, failing all the while to realize that an authentic servant does not choose his own tasks but does only the bidding of the Master. 

Meaningful uselessness; one of the enormous paradoxes of the Christian faith. Only in our stillness are His purposes discerned. Only as we relinquish our own agenda, can His prevail. Only as we release our personal ambition can His glory be revealed.

We know this to be true, and this truth will set us free. But perhaps the hamster-wheel feels better.

“Be still and know that I am God,” declares the Lord … still. It’s more than an invitation.

In HOPE –

David