The To-Be List
Hi wonderful you! How is your December going?
Just recently, I was thinking I needed to spend more time with God. It’s a busy month as you know, and the to-do-list and pre-Christmas celebrations can be more to put in your schedule than usual.
But as I was pondering this, I heard the Lord say that ‘it’s not a to-do list.’ Yes, God is right! I shouldn’t be approaching spending time with God and in His Word as a task to fit more in at this time of the year, but realize that sometimes the busyness can wait. And in fact it’s actually a joy and an honor to spend time with God.
While I do prioritize reading something in the Bible before going about my tasks each day, pausing and just being with the Lord in His presence too can be so lifechanging, and I often think ‘why don’t I do this more often’. When I do so, I always feel refreshed, find direction and feel lighter after giving my burdens to Him.
When I heard the Lord say that spending time with Him ‘isn’t a to-do-list’, I didn’t feel condemnation (as there was potential to for putting God on a to-do-list, eek), as God’s grace is so abundant that I knew it wasn’t a telling off but instead it was a nudge about how I was thinking about my relationship time-spending with Him. I then started wondering if there’s such a thing as a ‘to-be list’! Something like an overall ‘life piece of paper’ that’s got what’s in our hearts written on it. With things that we’d like to just rest in and ‘be’ in instead of doing or achieving. Things that are listed as moments to be present in and enjoy, and that that’s the way we think of them.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! Friend, are there moments where you feel like life can sometimes feel like a long to-do-list rather than it being how God intended for us to be enjoying experiences and relationships more, or is it just me? I’ve found doing things for God can sometimes take precedence as ticking that box too, which can be unbalanced. Doing versus being is something so interesting to ponder in this busy world!
Was God’s plan for us to be always so busy that we miss out on moments we were meant to enjoy also? Perhaps not, and when we spend time with God that’s when we can find treasures of life to discover and things become clearer.
I’m going to learn to put God at the very top of my ‘to be with list’, where I’m learning that I can stop and just be with Him, like how a relationship is supposed to be like. Being with God, enjoying the time with Him and relishing in a moment that we can’t find in tomorrow, only then.
While a to-do chore list still exists and we might have it on there to ring a certain friend for a catch up, we don’t view friendships as something we have to do. God gives us friendships for us to enjoy and to support one other, and it’s a real treasure when you find a friend that you can just be yourself with, right?
The same is with a relationship with God. He doesn’t want us to come to Him in a certain way that’s anything other than just being our true selves.
Ephesians 1:7 NLT: He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased
our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
The Word says His blood washes us clean. So if condemnation is trying to keep you away from drawing near to God, point your eyes and heart towards God’s Word and the truth of how God views you. You are free from sin by what Jesus has done by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for us, paying the price for our sins, and making a way for a relationship through Salvation in Him. You are beautifully and wonderfully made by God (Psalm 139:14) and as His precious child, He just can’t wait to spend time with you! The One True God who holds the whole universe in His hands, wants to be with you and is very much interested in how you day is going!
This has started me thinking about verses in the Bible that talk about being in relationship with God, and there’s a beautiful verse that alludes to just ‘being’.
Psalm 46:10 KJV: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.