Being Over Doing

The best book ever (besides the Bible) is written by Dane Ortlund and titled Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinner and Sufferers.

That may seem like an opinion, but it’s definitely not. It’s a fact. Stop reading this, and go order it on Amazon.

I could quote a thousand things from this book, but for now, I’ll share a nugget I gleaned from the most recent chapter I read. While discussing the work of God, Ortlund notes the difference between the heart of God and the heart of sinners:

“Yaweh needs no provoking to love, only to anger. We need no provoking to anger, only to love.”

When I hear about our natural bend towards anger and irritability, I can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness and guilt. I imagine, if we all watched a movie of ourselves over the last year and a half, there would be hundreds of examples of when irritability and anger got the best of us. Whether it’s losing your temper with your kids, sending a nasty text to your spouse, or rolling your eyes during a meeting at work - so often we find ourselves naturally responding out of our sinfulness. We give into the parts of us that are exhausted, overworked, and broken.

Friend, I think Jesus wants so much more for you. Your sinful bent might be towards anger and irritability, but that is not how He designed you. He has created you to be an ambassador of His love, pointing others back to Him. But we must allow him to tame that fiery anger inside of us, and train our hearts to be provoked to love. So, how do we do it?

In the home of Mary and Martha, we see the solution to our problem of anger, irritability, and a heart that doesn’t radiate with Christ’s love. He teaches us how we can be provoked to love, instead of naturally exuding anger:

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.”

- Luke 10:38-42

Martha was doing. Mary was being. Martha was angry and irritable because her first concern was with the list that she had to get done. (I don’t blame her; that’s usually where I’m at too). Mary knew the most important thing she could do was sit at the feet of Jesus and be reminded of who she was - a child of His. The rest would fall into place, or it wouldn’t, but ultimately focusing on the one most important thing would train her heart to respond like Christ’s.

Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about the doing and start focusing on “being.” Yes, I know you have a thousand things to get done, but at what cost? When’s the last time you sat at Jesus’ feet, fully feeling the weight of your identity as His child? How often are you operating out of a place of trying to be perfect, rather than just focusing on being His?

We can’t expect our sin to be tamed and our hearts to be molded by God if we never spend time with Him. Find freedom from the stress and anger in the presence of Jesus. Be instead of do. Mary instead of Martha. Jesus instead of sin. Let Him shape your heart towards love instead of anger.

I’m giving myself permission to rewrite your to-do list for this week. (Sorry, I know I didn’t ask, but I’m doing it.)

To-Do:

1. Sit at His feet.
2. Remind yourself of who you are.
3. Be.

And everything else after that will get done, or it won’t. But you will be operating out of a place of truth instead of brokenness. Out of love instead of anger. And I’d rather live a life that’s less productive and more loving.

Which will you choose?

Cristina Schmitter

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