It seems that the days fly by lately. I wake up Monday morning, reluctantly I might add, then I blink and it’s Sunday night again. Somewhere in between the blur of the week, we become exhausted and worn out. We run ourselves ragged trying to perform to get some sort of reward. Whether it’s later hours in the office seeking a promotion or a little girl twirling in her new dress for Daddy, we are all doing something in hopes of getting the reward we seek.

Many of us do that in our Christian walk. At some point we have all been guilty of letting the overflow of ‘good deeds’ overshadow the view of the heart issue we tend to turn a blind eye to. I will be the first to admit that I have fallen to the lie, in a season of my life, thinking that the more I do, the more God will love me and reward me. It took some deep heart searching to find out the true desire of God’s heart and the result shocked me and tore apart every idea I had of earning what I want from the world’s standpoint. The fact is God wants you to do nothing. That’s right, nothing.

All your hours of serving and giving your time away cannot compare to the time He wants with you doing ‘nothing’. It is in those intimate times, that we simply seek His face and not His reward, that our hearts align with His for a moment and we see a glimpse of the true vision He wants us to see.

I love the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. In just five short verses a story is told that shows me something different each time I read it. The story tells that Jesus stopped on His way in a village to Mary and Martha’s house. As excited as they were, each reacted and prepared in different ways. It describes Martha as frantically cleaning the house and preparing her home while her guest sits and talks with her sister, Mary, at His feet attentively listening. Martha was hopelessly distracted trying to make sure the house was spotless and presentable when Jesus was already there, frankly not worried whether the laundry was done or if there were dishes in the sink.

The way Mary is described grips my heart and makes me want to be a woman like she was with a heart captivated by the guest in her home. My heart yearns to be a woman like Mary sitting at the feet of the Savior of the world enthralled by everything He says and the essence of who He is. This is a picture of how God desires us to be with Him and the way the world we live in has made us think we have to be to earn that relationship with Him that He promises from the beginning.

The fact is that we don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to perform to earn the love of the God that just wants to sit and have coffee with you in your living room. We don’t have to do anything but sit at His feet and listen just as Mary did or the woman with the oil that came to His feet and worshiped all He was with all she had. He wants us, not our actions or service. There is a time for service and giving our lives away in His name, but before any of that can take place we have to connect on a heart level with the One who we do all of that in, otherwise it is all in vain.

An intimate relationship with the Creator of everything is the key to it all I have learned in my twenty years. His love in this relationship is not based on my performance — a song sung, a dance danced, or a deed done, but rather it is made by a still, quiet heart that slows down long enough to be loved on and captivated by His majesty. Nothing else compares and after experiencing that, I give up trying to earn anything. We are not kept by the acts we perform, but by the power of God in all His majesty. I could never deserve it but He loves me in spite of it all. He has me, every piece, captivated at His feet resting in His presence. That is exactly where He desires me to be.