This year has definitely changed a lot of things for us, right? Like I remember back in March when everything first shut down and people went all wild over toilet paper and stuff. I just remember thinking “Wow, literally everything is shutting down. Even the NBA is calling it off!”

And it’s been in these moments of lock-downs, cancellations, and isolation that we have seen how every worldly thing can be stripped from us at any moment. We could lose our jobs, have to reevaluate those yearly goals, miss vacations, cancel all our plans, not have the ability to even go to the grocery store… 

While I am not saying that God plagued us with COVID and wanted to see us punished, I am saying that in the times that we’re in, God is giving us an amazing opportunity to change some things about us that absolutely need to change. That maybe would have gone unnoticed had we not experienced all that 2020 has been… 

And one major thing that I think this year has taught us is stillness. So that’s why we’re going to dive into it in this blog.

COVID did cancel a lot of things. It cancelled concerts, recitals, school, work, sports, the list goes on. But COVID did not cancel the goodness of God. It did not stop and it will not stop God working through it.

I think this year has led us - whether we wanted it or not - to a screeching halt. And before us, God has put stillness.

But not many of us have chosen that.

What have we done instead? We have spent hours and hours on our phones instead. Watching countless Tik Toks, keeping 100 streaks alive, mindlessly scrolling on the Gram.

But God is literally placing an opportunity for us to choose stillness in this season. He doesn’t want us to fill our minds with garbage and take this extra time that we have and fill it with mindless scrolling and searching. He doesn’t want our minds and bodies to become busier with comparison and worry and anxiety and posting.

He wants us to fill our minds with peace. The peace that comes from being still.

There is a story in the Bible where we are given a perfect example of this. I absolutely love this story. Ever heard of Mary and Martha?

We’re going to dive into Luke 10:38-42:

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So Mary and Martha were chilling at home, right. And then Martha opened up her door as she saw Jesus walking by, and she goes, “Hey yo, Jesus, is that you??? Come on inside! Have a seat!”

So Martha’s intentions were good, right? Like her inviting Jesus in was great. But what she chose to do after that is what led her to frustration and anger, a little bit of jealousy, and resentment.

Her sister Mary peeked her head around the corner when she heard the door opening, and when she saw Jesus, boom! She was at His feet. She was like, “Ah Jesus, I need you today. Imma shut up. Imma let you do the talking. Imma sit here and listen to what You have to say.”

But then Martha… Martha, Martha, Martha… she gets distracted over all the preparations. She’s trying to make that sweet lookin’ chocolate pie she saw on Pinterest, but it’s looking like a fail. She’s trying to take a sweet looking picture she can post on Instagram, but the lighting just isn’t right. She’s trying to think of the best Instagram caption she can think of like “Cooking for the King,” but the pressure is becoming too much. And Martha’s mind starts spinning, and she starts getting mad because Mary’s just sittin’ there all peaceful like, not helping her come up with a Tik Tok dance they can post with Jesus. It would be really sweet, but I guess Mary just wants to sit at Jesus’s feet.

And the pressure and weight is so much for Martha that she finally snaps and just goes, “Jesus! Don’t you care that my sister won’t get up and help me right now?!”

And Jesus just tells her, “Martha, Martha” - and if Jesus uses your name twice, you know He wants your attention. He told her, “Martha, you’re worried about a lot of things, but really, when you think about it, really only a few things are needed - or indeed only one. Me. Now your sister has chosen the better option, and that option will not be taken away from her.”

So let me ask you the question - is what you’re choosing something that can be taken away from you? Your phone? That can be taken away. Money? That can be taken away. Popularity? That can be taken away. Nice clothes? Yep, that can be taken away too. But your faith? Your relationship with Jesus? That’s not something that can be stripped from you.

And I’m just as bad as the rest of them. I have to be very intentional with choosing the right things just like you do. I’m an achiever. I want to accomplish things. I want to attain things. I want to win at things.

But things go a lot better for me when my eyes are fixed on the victory that I have with Jesus instead of my own self-glorified idea of worldly victory.

It’s great if we have the intention like Martha in inviting Jesus in, but it’s just as important what we choose to do after we’ve welcomed Him in.

In Exodus 14:14, we are told “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

There’s no doubt in my mind that you have a lot going on. You’ve got people in your life who just aren’t nice. Maybe you’ve got a friend or coworker you don’t really get along with. Maybe you’ve become addicted to your phone and your worth is coming from likes or people’s reactions of what you post. Maybe you’ve got a page-long list of new year’s resolutions that have you feeling both excited and overwhelmed.

We have to be careful. Otherwise soon enough we’ll be like Martha, and we’ll snap. And we’ll grow angry and resentful and impatient, and we’ll forget to keep the main thing the main thing.

So be still. How do you do it?

You quiet yourself. You quiet your mind. You breathe. You sit in silence. You allow God to come give you peace and you shut out any distraction that tries to rule in your heart. Being still doesn’t mean asking God for stuff or things. It’s simply inviting Him into your heart and sitting at His feet.

I know it’s hard. My mind has a lot buzzing up there too… but it’s not impossible. You control your thoughts. You control your actions. And you make time for what’s important.

So if God is important in your life, you’ll make time to be still before Him. If social media is important in your life, you’ll spend hours of your day scrolling like the rest of the world does.

And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just do what the world does. I want to break the cycle. I want to seize this opportunity God has given me to be still and actually take it. I don’t want to end up like Martha spinning in circles, never stopping for a moment to sit at Jesus’s feet.

It is estimated that us Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day. 4,000-10,000!!! And in a world that is constantly trying to sell us the new thing and get us to invest in stuff that will make us cool or help us lose weight or gain popularity, I think it’s time we start investing in someone who is the only necessary thing that we need to win in life.

His name is Jesus, and we just celebrated his birth just last week. He’s an awesome guy. And there’s a quote out there that says you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. I don’t know about you, but I want one of those people to be Jesus.

The good news is that God is never done with us. If we’re still living and we’re still breathing, God still wants to go to work in our minds and our hearts. 

I just hope that we can be still long enough to let Him.

So will you?