Have You Got a Minute? Could You Pencil Me In?

Have you ever been in one of those relationships that’s super productive? You work well together, it’s collaborative; people call you the dream team. Every time you get together, you’re both ready to jump into whatever action steps need to be taken to get to the next goal. Nobody can match you for accomplishments and accolades.

Sometimes you find yourself wishing you could just hang out and get to know each other without the pressure to perform.
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As I read the Bible, I get the real sense that God feels like that toward us. In the beginning, humans were created to be with God. Yes, they also were charged with populating and caring for the earth. They were given a task to accomplish. But that task was not the consuming whole of their being; they walked in the garden in the cool of the evening, chatting and communing with their Creator.

Sin entered the picture, and all of that restful, meandering conversation came to an end. Humanity was left with only the task at hand – made more difficult now – and no respite in the cool of the evenings. The Creator was left without the precious time spent with those He loved.

When Jesus lived, died, and lived again to restore that lost relationship, one of His main purposes was the return of those intimate conversations.

We miss that, I think. So frequently, especially in our church organizations but also in our personal lives, we think that the goal of our salvation is to perform all the good works. We are given tasks – just as Adam and Eve were in the garden – but the great joy and ultimate purpose of our salvation is our restoration to relationship.

In our well-meaning exuberance, we fill our days with good deeds; often good deeds that God never asked of us. In the overflow of our gratitude for our salvation, we forget to ask our Savior what HE would like us to do, assuming we already know. We exhaust ourselves in the scheduling of meetings, performance of sacrificial service in our organizations, and running of all manner of societally beneficial programs. Proud of ourselves, comfortable in our assessment of our accomplishments, we miss His quiet whisper:

“I just want to spend time with you.”

May we still our activity long enough to hear Him. May we desire Him above all the doing. As He desires us.