Have you ever stopped to think about how much patience we have for the things we interact with in our days, or for the people we engage with? Well, I recently experienced something that opened my eyes to how much patience we truly have.
You see, I was standing at the register paying with cash for the first time in a long while when I realized a sense of guilt was embracing me as I was sorting through my change. Every penny, nickel, dime, and quarter I counted in my head was another second too long I was standing at that register. I started thinking to myself that I should just use my card because I was holding up the non-existent line. That I’m holding up the cashier that I later wondered, from what? I felt the anticipation of the cashier slowly turn to discomfort as more seconds ticked by. I mulled over this feeling of guilt for a bit pondering why I was accepting this feeling, especially when it stemmed from taking a few extra seconds to exchange my cash rather than tap my card. After surrendering that feeling of guilt to God, He revealed a revelation that I want to share with you today.
God told me in that moment of surrender that the enemy was trying to make me feel guilty for taking a moment to slow down because he wants us to constantly be on the go, the hustle, and the grind. Why, you might ask. Because, if we are always moving on to the next thing we will be distracted from what's most important, God. The more distracted we are and focused on earthly things, the less we have time, energy, or intentionality to focus on the things above.
I’m sharing this anecdote with you today because I want to encourage us as Children of God to slow down and be still. It says in Psalms 46:10 “’ Be Still and Know That I Am God.'” Often, we fall into that trap of thinking we can’t hear God’s voice when in reality, the enemy just keeps us too distracted to be still and listen to what God has to say.
I know it’s so easy to fall into a rhythm of scrolling every three seconds on our phones to pass the time but what we really should be doing is picking up our Bibles and reading the word. It’s better to spend 3 secs of the 3 hours we spend scrolling through our phones, in the word of God than no time at all. We have the time; we just need to stop being so distracted and create habits that glorify our maker. When we do this, we will start to see a betterment of our families and our communities as our cups begin to overflow.
We might be “stuck” in a culture right now that chooses to be distracted. A culture that finds it easier to overload our senses than spend a second in silence. However, it only takes one person to be the light of Christ and change a culture into one with the ability to be still, to change a culture into one where patience still exists.