Are We Human Beings or Human Doings?

Have you ever stopped and thought to yourself, I need a break, maybe a vacation…a time to just rest. In this week’s Behind the Mic, Matt Maher shares the story behind his song Your Love Defends Me and being still. We hope you enjoy this post and find it encouraging.

Story Behind “Your Love Defends Me”

I recently got back from a month vacation with my family. We were in Europe and my wife remarked about how much less I was on my phone. Which is always encouraging and a bit convicting…because it makes you realize, maybe I’m on my phone too much at home. But I think part of it was because of the time change. It was so early in the states that by the time people were awake it was halfway through the day, and I’d been present with my family, I’d been still. I realized that there are some things that haven’t changed in the church. Some things, in terms of challenges we face as Christians. In the way that our faith intersects with the world that we live in. But, one thing that has changed is that we are increasingly less and less capable of being still.

The world has become more and more focused on productivity and doing, that you might almost say that we should not call yourself human beings anymore, we should just call ourselves human doings because we tend to define ourselves so much by whatever it is that we’re doing, and not necessarily how we’re being.

I think that, in life, it’s sometimes a struggle to be and you’ve got to fight for it. You have to fight for being present with your family. You have to fight for being a good husband. You have to fight for being a father. You know, people fight for the job they have, the education they want or the rights they want. We live in an age where everybody’s fighting for something, for some sort of cause. So the idea that you’d actually need to do the exact opposite, to achieve that, feels entirely counterintuitive and counterproductive. Yet, when it comes to faith I’m realizing that’s what you have to do. Over and over again in the Old Testament, you see stories where God tells people, go stand over there and wait. I’m going to go do this for you. In Exodus it says, the Lord your God will fight for you. You need only to be still. Yet sometimes we think, when it comes to faith, it’s our job to defend it. It’s our job to sort of uphold it. It’s our job to protect it from the corruption of the world. I’m realizing more and more, it’s actually Jesus’ job to be faithful in me. And to, sort of, strengthen my heart. It’s grace that strengthens me. It’s not me that strengthens me. Yes, I got to make myself available to it, but God does all the heavy lifting.

“It’s grace that strengthens me. It’s not me that strengthens me.” – Matt Maher

In reality, God cares more about my marriage than I ever could. God cares more about my kids than I ever could. He wants those things in my life to win. God wants you to win. God is you’re Defender. The things that matter to you, matter infinitely more to Him.

“God is my Defender. The things that matter to me, matter infinitely more to Him.” – Matt Maher

Maybe all you need to do is be still. Maybe for the first time in a long time, you got to slow down. That’s really what this song, Your Love Defends Me, is about. This song is coming from a place of stillness. From a place of; I’ve come to the end of what I can do. So, I’m going to be still, I’m going to go stand over there, and I’m going to declare, this is what God’s going to do.

– Matt Maher

“Your Love Defends Me” by Matt Maher

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