“Oh be still, and behold him” – Behold Him by Paul Baloche
Silence, solitude, and contemplation. These are all beautiful spiritual disciplines that can impact our formation in becoming Christ-like. However, how many of us truly immerse ourselves in these practices? These can be uncomfortable and revealing of how little we intentionally choose to turn down the volume of our lives.
If we can push past the feelings of failure, shame, and discomfort, though, we find that Jesus is there already gazing at us in love, and we have the opportunity to gaze back at Him.1
Scripture so eloquently puts it like this:
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, ESV)
Beholding God, gazing at him, entering into contemplative prayer – it all depends on our chosen relinquishing of control. If we can allow the day to continue without us for a while so that we will quietly sit in the presence of Jesus, then we’ll dwell in the comfortable silence between loved ones who choose time and proximity together because this produces its own sort of intimacy and space for depth. We’ll discover the peace to simply be. Loved and in love.
Behold him, Church. Behold him, for we have been given the freedom to do so.