A Call to Resilience

There’s this fascinating story about Jesus in Mark 1, starting in verse 36. It goes like this:

Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere (Mark 1:36-45, NIV).

As I read this, I thought, “man, it must’ve been difficult being Jesus.”

Go figure, huh?

But then I thought, “How easy is it for us—propping ourselves up as our own gods—to believe that we are people’s saviors? That we need to be everywhere, all the time?!” 

We see all of the evil and the heartache and the sickness and the disease in the world and we do 1 of 2 things.

Either:

a) run towards it all and become so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of darkness we’re faced with that we give up.

Or:

b) run away from it all and pretend it doesn’t exist. 

How many of us find ourselves so overwhelmed, anxious, consumed with noise, hurry, darkness, sin, evil and the troubles of this world that our only response is to numb out?

We numb the pain of this world by endlessly scrolling on Instagram or Tik Tok, with food or sleep, video games or pornography.

And what happens is instead of embodying this balance of courage and peace, instead of becoming a peaceful presence, we end up getting swept away in the anxiety and darkness of this world along with everyone else.

Either way we end up missing out on fulfilling Jesus’ command to take heart! 

What does it mean to take heart?

We see this phrase 3 times in 1 chapter in the book of Deuteronomy, 4 times in 1 chapter of Joshua. 25 times throughout the Bible.

God commands His people to, “take heart!”

So, it must be important, right?  

In Greek, which is what the New Testament is written in, this word is, “tharseó.”

Grammatically speaking, this is an imperative or a command that Jesus is charging his disciples with.

In other words, there’s no option given by Jesus.

To be a follower or apprentice of Jesus is to tharseó! To take heart! 

Tharseó can literally be translated, “to dare, to be bold, or to be confident.” 

Jesus understood then and understands now that the waves of disappointment, doubt, fear, rage and anxiety will not stop coming after us. That the troubles of this world are real. But that there's an ability to transcend through the pain and the darkness and it’s by taking heart.  

Our call is to take heart.

We must be confident and bold.

We must be willing to dare to be different than the world around us!

We must be willing to—with courage—enter into the pain and darkness of the world but have the trust, faith, and self-awareness in Jesus to retreat, restore, and refill our souls with the love of God.

We must be a people who adopts Jesus’s rhythm of take heart, be still.  

Only then, will we experience true peace. 

How do we differentiate ourselves?

Be still.

In a world full of distractions, deadlines and demands that produce this constant feeling of anxiety, we see Jesus constantly retreat to a “lonely” or a “desolate” place.

To the (Greek) erémos. A quiet place to be alone with God. To slow down, recenter and reaffirm the priorities of his soul. 

My friends, think with me for a moment…

What if the ability to achieve peace—to take heart—is actually accomplished through slowing down and being still?

What if we became a community of people who—in a world addicted to noise and busyness—slowed down and learned silence and solitude? Not isolation. Not being alone while distracting ourselves. Rather, developing the ability to spend uninterrupted time, alone, in silence, with God in an effort to be transformed into people of peace?  

Here’s a few ways we can do just that:

#1) Find a time and place.

You need to develop a rhythm of setting a meeting time and place to commune with the Father. For Jesus, we see it was in the hills, outside the city, where no one was living.

For you, maybe it’s your bedroom, the creek behind your house or even a closet. A place where you can be alone, distraction (and device) free to commune with God. 

#2) Set a realistic time goal.

Set a timer and put it outside the door so you’re not distracted. Set it for 2 minutes. You’ll quickly realize how difficult even 2 minutes of silence is but it will also show you how much you lack the ability to slow down.

Start small and be consistent.

Your ability to commune in silence with God will grow. 

#3) Begin with a breath prayer.

Focus on your breathing and begin to pray something simple directed towards God that keeps your focus on him.

A few examples: “Father, God.” “I am available.” “I love you.” “You are _____.”

A few days ago, I was on a run and my breath prayer was simply, “Thank you, Jesus.”

Short, simple, focused.  

As with any new practice, this could be difficult at first. But hopefully you see that the goal isn’t to become a recluse who sits and stares at a wall for 8 hours a day.

Rather, the point is to develop intentional time with God—allowing us to slow down, to detox from the busyness and hurry surrounding us, and to remind us why we are called to, “Take Heart,” to, “tharseó,” to be bold and, with courage, live a life that is able to take in the evil and darkness of the world and lead out of a calm, centered soul that reminds others why Jesus is the only way to achieving true peace.

Let us be a people who take heart.

Be encouraged.