Doing vs Being

This entry will hopefully reflect the difference between doing and being. In light of one’s relationship with another human being sometimes behaviors can disrupt those relationships. Often our behaviors can either cause these relationships to flourish or be dismantled. When the dismantling of a relationship occurs, judgement is usually part and parcel of the outcome. Judgement is all about separation. When we judge someone based on the behavior of the other, more than likely we stop communicating with them and we usually go our separate ways. We also allow our hurt feelings or our anger to become obstacles we would really not care to cross.

Another aspect of our separation from another can come because we have hurt the other based on our own behavior which may have elements of shame and embarrassment on our part. To tell the truth, finding the strength to humbly go to the one we have hurt asking for forgiveness can be very challenging and extremely difficult. As a matter of fact, our sense of embarrassment and shame can be so overwhelming that we can often judge ourselves so harshly and that self-judgement can hinder us from reconciliation. 

These kinds of experiences can also find their way into our relationship with God, at least that is how I have experienced it. Personally, I have often danced around such encounters thinking that because of a particular behavior or sin that I have committed over and over again, that somehow God has run out of patience with me and my behavior and now I feel as though I have been separated from God. As my life continues however, I’m not so sure God sees us the way I was taught God sees us. 

I have sought to “do” in order to “be.” In other words, I was of the opinion that in order to be in a relationship with God after my sinful behaviors continued to surface that I had to figure out what I needed to “do” to get back into God’s good graces. When I discovered The bible passage of Galatians 2:17 in the Mirror Bible it changed my entire way of thinking and understanding. It reads,

“If in our quest to discover righteousness by faith in what Christ did for us, we find that it is still possible to stumble; do not now label yourself a sinner yet again! The fact that you sinned does not cancel the cross of Christ and gives you no reason to abandon justification by faith as if Christ is to be blamed for your distraction…”

When I made the spiritual discovery that I cannot do enough or impress God enough with my brand of righteousness with tears flowing down my face, I heard the Spirit of God say to me, “You can’t do enough nor do you have to because I did it for you. And that is because of my great love for you.” So my understanding finally clicked. In other words, it's not my righteousness that matters, It’s the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus that matters most and his righteousness covers us all. You and I are human “beings” not human “doings,” Our doing was accomplished by Jesus the Anointed One of God. And that doing is now done, completed and finished.