BEING, OR DOING ?

We are often referred to as "human beings", and never, as far as I know, as "human doings"! Then why are we so consumed with doing, and not just being? This often crosses my mind when I hear constantly about how busy everyone seems to be these days. I often use that expression myself, usually as an excuse for not doing something I should have done some time ago. Since a very early age, we are programed toward "performance" orientation, usually with some form of reward offered for doing a certain task quickly and well! This stays with us into adulthood, and definitely affects our behavior. This same attitude towards performance follows us into our life as a Christian. We know from reading scriptures like (Eph 2:8-10) that we are saved by "grace", which is a gift from God, and not by any good works that we might do. Then of course after we are saved, God expects us to do the good works He has planned for us to do, long before we knew Him. This is all part of the "foreknowledge" of God, that He has a perfect plan for each of our lives.

The big question in my mind is, why do we believe that we cannot earn the right to become a child of God by our performance before salvation, but seem to believe that our performance after will please Him? I believe we need to take a hard look at this whole area of performance. Yes, we certainly are expected to be involved in good works after we receive Jesus as our personal savior, (2 Cor 5:17), and (Eph 2:10) make this very clear. But they are good works that God directs us to do, and not what we ourselves, or others direct us to do. I believe our Creator God has created each of us as unique individuals, and He knows what we are capable of doing, and would not expect more from us than He knows we should take on. He has given each of us His Holy Spirit as our teacher, comforter, and guide, to help us live the Christian life. It would seem the problem of being too busy doing things we think are important, is probably because we are not checking things out with Him before getting involved. I'm sure our life could be more stress free if we learned to listen for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit before we become involved in many activities we think are necessary.

This is only a theory of mine at this stage, and I don't want to come across as if I have proved it out yet in my own life. Like many other scriptural principles, I usually can see them long before I start to put them into practice in my life! How about you?

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp