Having, Doing, Being

It seems that the grammar of faith these days has much to do with "having and doing" but very little to do with "being".

I have Jesus in my heart. I have salvation. I am doing my quiet time. I am going to church. I am praying each morning. Heavens mine when I die!

Sometimes the emphasis is on the flip side of these having's and doing's.

I don't have addictions. I don't have anxiety. I don't cuss or drink. I don't sleep around. I don't gossip. I don't vote for those Democrats.

But the Christian life has little to do with having and doing - it's about being!

A certain young, well-to-do ruler once came to Jesus and asked what must he do to have eternal life. Jesus realized that this man was caught up in the having and doing and believed that he could actually achieve this thing called eternal life.

What did Jesus do? He stripped him naked!

"OK, Mr. Have and Do-Not, you are lacking in the being department! You think that life consists in what you can acquire and perform and that God is impressed with that. Let me tell you what God is impressed with - a stripped, naked baby - helpless and totally dependent!"

God calls us to give up trying to do and let Him be in us what he wants to be in us.

God calls us to stop trying to possess Him and let Him possess us.

"God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." [bold and italics mine]

2 Corinthians 5:19-21