By Chelsey Thompson
Sunday, May 1, 2022
“He says, ‘Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
COVID caused a lot of calamity. It also gave room for a lot of healing and dependence on our one true creator and friend. It allowed room and space for the re-development of lost and displaced families and reminded us all of the importance and need for community. In a time of loss and heartache, there was a revival of reminders and lessons for us all. One such lesson which continues to remain powerful today is to “Be still.”
In America, such a lesson is not easily learned. We want to go and provide for the things we want, never having to give thought to what we really need. Our time, whether working in ministry, for the church, or elsewhere, is dedicated to serve and reproduce. Churches toil endlessly to provide for the sheep and leaders are spent from tending for too long without giving any thought to who is actually in control. Leaders point their fingers at those whom they serve for their disappointment and discouragement and often fail to realize their own folly and failure to recognize the one who is actually in control.
As America reopens and the decrease of COVID cases slowly allows for community once again, the new normal must once again be challenged. Rather than spinning harder and faster to reproduce what once was, God is calling us to a time to slow down and recognize his purpose and power in it all.
Stop blaming others for your own failures. Stop blaming other people or the government for the hardships we are destined to endure. Instead, turn a steady glance upward and recognize from where the one true victory actually comes.
Just like so many other circumstances in life, Easter, a holiday of celebration and reverence, has come and went. Have we already forgotten the very meaning of our existence? Have we already forgotten the examples, victories, and love of Christ? Have we already placed more emphasis on endurance and less on the very nature of who God is?
Instead of diving into tomorrow’s task, I challenge us as believers to sit in the very presence which gives us purpose and peace to share the love which remains in the present of today.
Chelsey Thompson is communications director at LifePoint Church.
