Being and Doing

If you are like me, you probably have had times in your life when you are at the point where you say to God, “God, whatever you want me to do, I want to do it!” I have said that a lot, actually. I want to do things for God.

A lot of us want to do things for God. He has done so much for us, and so we want to do things for Him. But what I am finding more and more as I walk through this journey of life is that God is not really interested in us doing things for Him. He is more interested in us doing things with Him. He is more interested in us being His child than in us doing the work of His servant. Yes, we are His servants. But yes, we are His children. It is a dual truth.

If we are not careful, Christianity can become too much about doing and not near enough about being. Steve Brown, an author, theologian, and long-time Christian points out this dangerous truth in his latest book, What Was I Thinking?

"A friend of mine says that much of the evangelism and
witnessing done by Christians is a pyramid scheme. The
purpose is to acquire the product (i.e., salvation), sell it to
others, and then train those others to sell it. The problem,
my friend says, is that nobody ever uses the product. We
just sell it."

This is a painful truth. And how often is it true in our own spiritual lives? Jesus Christ has purchased new life for us. It was expensive. It cost Him His very life. Are we using the product, or just trying to sell it? I honestly believe that we can do both, and that is when the lost world around us will actually see the value in the product itself.