Casandra Martin

Psalm 119:89-96

We live in a doing society. Our value and worth are tied to what we produce during our lifetimes. Money is the ultimate marker of success. Good looks, fame, and power are held up as ideals. Busyness identifies who is important. We invest our lives in a check list of symbols that allow other people to see our worth. We are encouraged, driven, and even shamed into believing that accomplishment and productivity are the final scales by which we will be measured.

Because we are so drenched in doing thinking, it is easy to bring this “I must do” mindset into our relationship with God. Doing thinking says that I must perform in order for God to love me. I must prove myself worthy in order to receive grace. Busyness for God equals approval from God. A completed checklist defines what it means to be wholly pleasing in His sight. The problem is that we cannot accomplish by doing what God gives us freely just by being His. You can’t earn His love. You can’t barter for grace. You don’t rack up points by performance. His delight is in your being His, belonging to Him, and learning how to rest in the truth that He has already done it all for us.

Here’s the deep truth of the twelfth stanza of Psalm 119. “I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.” (Psalm 119:94) The world is emblazoned with the wisdom and power of God. It is firmly written in the heavens. His testimonies shout His faithfulness and whisper glory all around us. Three little words point to the truth that God longs to embed deeply into our hearts. I am yours. These are being words, not doing words. If we can learn to live wholly in these three words, it will turn our world upside down, or should I say right side up.

My Jesus Resolution today is to be His. How long has it been since I spent the day just resting in the luxury of His love? I need to dig the stubborn roots of doing out of my soul, and trust in the grace He lavishes on me every day. When Jesus declared, “It is finished,” on the cross, He was speaking a message that should thunder in my soul. Doing finds its proper place when I embrace the deep meaning of what it means to be His.