{"id":4847,"date":"2025-08-28T08:40:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4847"},"modified":"2025-08-28T08:40:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:40:29","slug":"pros-come-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/pros-come-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"PROS: Come “to” Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0<\/em>

It\u2019s hard to sit still.

It\u2019s even harder to be<\/em> still, from the inside out.

About a dozen years ago, University of Virginia professor of psychology Timothy Wilson directed a study in which men and women were encouraged to simply sit and let their minds wander. All they really had to do was nothing for about 15 minutes.

By and large, they couldn\u2019t do it.

\u201cWe went into this thinking that mind-wandering wouldn\u2019t be that hard,\u201c Wilson said, \u201c[but] we kept finding that people didn\u2019t like it much.\u201d

In a matter of minutes, those in the study began to miss their cell phones. They wondered if they had received any emails. How many strangers had posted Likes on their most recent photos? Was there something they should be working on? It didn\u2019t take long for them to flunk the stillness part of trying to be still. Both men and women searched for distractions.

Wilson and his team then asked themselves a disturbing question: Was it possible that people were so uncomfortable with stillness that they would prefer a negative stimulation instead?

So they offered one. Rather than trying to sit quietly, people could choose to shock themselves.

Each was given a device that would provide a modest electrical shock from a nine-volt battery. All they had to do was press a button. Wilson thought it was a crazy idea. \u201cI mean, no one was going to shock themselves by choice.\u201d

That\u2019s when they made a shocking discovery. About a quarter of the women in the study and a whopping two-thirds of the men actually chose to press the button instead of trying to remain still. One man actually shocked himself 190 times over a span of 15 minutes.

Wilson concluded that many people strongly prefer to do anything else \u2013 even if it hurts \u2013 instead of trying to do nothing.

This is a concern, especially because of Psalm 46:10: \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d If we can\u2019t learn how to be still, we will seriously miss out on knowing that God is God.

Irritability, anger, busyness, and loneliness: Those are some of the signs that we desperately need to experience intentional down-time, allowing our minds simply to reflect on the truth that God is God, and we are not.

Author and pastor John Ortberg suggests that we allow Psalm 46:10 to become the focus of a stillness exercise. We quietly ponder each word. Then we slowly begin to subtract words:

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

What are we likely to discover from such an experience?

We may be shocked to learn that God has been nearby all the time, and we were too distracted to notice.

It\u2019s a funny bumper sticker, but it should also make us cringe: Jesus is Coming Soon. Look Busy<\/em>.

The Son of God\u2019s actual interest in our current behavior is more faithfully revealed in texts like Matthew 11:28-30, which begins \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u201d\u00a0 Eugene Peterson brilliantly paraphrases Jesus\u2019 words in The Message<\/em>:

\u201cAre you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you\u2019ll recover your life. I\u2019ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me\u2014watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won\u2019t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you\u2019ll learn to live freely and lightly.\u201d

Is there a preposition in there that\u2019s worth a second look?

Check out the beginning of that text: \u201cCome to<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (PROS<\/strong>) me\u2026\u201d It\u2019s hard to imagine getting much mileage out of a humble word like \u201cto.\u201d But PROS<\/strong> is intriguing. It adds to the \u201cwith me\u201d emphasis of the New Testament, but with a strong personal flavor.

We\u2019ve already encountered META<\/strong> and SUN<\/strong>. Both prepositions remind us God has promised to be with<\/u><\/strong><\/em> us, regardless of circumstances, and that we are called to be with<\/u><\/strong><\/em> each other.

The apostle John didn\u2019t use either of those words, however, in one of the Bible\u2019s most important \u201cwith\u201d texts.

He launches his Gospel with this sentence: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word [that is, Jesus], and the word was with<\/u><\/strong><\/em> (PROS<\/strong>) God, and the Word was God.\u201d

META<\/strong> and SUN<\/strong> have the sense of \u201cbeing alongside.\u201d Imagine a commanding officer shouting to his troops, \u201cAre you with<\/u><\/em> me?\u201d If he had used either of those two words, a few weary soldiers might have muttered, \u201cUh, yes sir, it\u2019s pretty clear that we\u2019re all stuck here in the same muddy trench.\u201d

But if he had shouted, \u201cAre you with<\/u><\/em> me?\u201d and used the word PROS<\/strong>, he would have been asking, \u201cWill you join me in storming that hill? Are you with me \u2013 body, mind, and spirit \u2013 even when the bullets begin to fly?\u201d To which loyal troops could only reply, \u201cWherever you go, we will follow!\u201d

John 1:1 thus means, \u201cAt the beginning of everything, there was Jesus the Son and God the Father, and the two of them were entirely united in spirit, because Father and Son are both fully divine.\u201d

The word PROS<\/strong> is the root of the Greek word prosopon<\/em>, which means \u201cface.\u201d It later came to denote each of the three persons of the Trinity.

So, what does all this have to do with being still and knowing that God is God?

The Matthew 11 text is our assurance that the One we meet during intentional times of stillness is actually a real person, not an abstract Religious Principle.\u00a0

Jesus says, \u201cCome to<\/u><\/strong><\/em> me. Face to face. As our hearts beat together, you will experience rest as you have never known it before.\u201d

And it\u2019s a good bet we\u2019ll soon hear Jesus saying something else:

\u201cAre you with<\/u> me?\u201d\u00a0<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here \u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to sit still. It\u2019s even harder to be still, from… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[473,991,492],"class_list":["post-4847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-prepositions","tag-stillness","tag-trinity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4849,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4847\/revisions\/4849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}