The Art of Non-Doing is Cultivating Time Alone with God

Last updated on: June 4, 2019 at 5:53 pm by Paul Bane

The Art of Non-Doing is Cultivating Time Alone with God 2019-06-04T17:53:27-06:00 Paul Bane

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

To be successful at contemplative prayer and Mindful Christianity, you must be able to center your mind and focus your heart on the risen Christ and the presence of God. One critical way of being able to concentrate your mind on God is the idea of non-doing. The art of non-doing is cultivating time alone with God. It’s important to note that the meaning of non-doing is not the same as doing nothing.

Non-doing is an inward act which means to cultivate a stillness or stopping of all the things that we feel we must do right now. Non-doing is providing an avenue where there is no other agenda than being present at the moment to focus our attention on Christ in prayer.

It is nearly impossible for Americans and Westerners to grasp the concept and the value of non-doing. The reason is our culture places such a high priority and importance on being productive and getting things done. Americans even work at scheduling leisure time with activity to have a successful vacation. There is no lasting peace in our life until we understand nothing else needs to be done to be whole and complete in our lives than to be present with Christ.

Here is the crux of the practice of non-doing in contemplative prayer. When making time for God, we stop doing all the activities that we think we must get done and focus our undivided attention on Christ. If I’m focused on family matters bills that need to be paid or consumed with fear or hate, I will never be able to entirely focus and learn how to be at peace with God. One of the most important lessons is discovering I must let go of the concerns of the world and stop doing anything except creating time for God alone.

Non-doing takes considerable effort to focus on the present moment and not to be distracted in our prayer and bible study. Non-doing is concentrating on the present moment without letting the distractions and the cares of the world pull you away from your awareness and focus upon God.

When we focus on Christ in the stillness of our heart, we discover what we need and how to respond to the issues we encounter in life. The contemplative or mindful Christian finds it is in the silence of the moment and in the presence of Christ that provides us the most explicit focus and insight for the decisions we need to make in our lives. The art of non-doing is cultivating time alone with God which we all need.

Image via Pixabay

PewResearchCenter

TheGospelCoalition

CenterforActionandContemplation

Contemplative Prayer

The goal of Contemplative Prayer

Previous Post

October 27, 2018

Concentration on the Living Christ Connects us to the Presence of God

Next Post

November 4, 2018 One Divine and Perfect Moment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Christian Life Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Grief and Loss Mindfulness Recent Posts Suffering Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz