Stop doing. Start being.

It’s time to change our thinking once again. You know how people can be busy and not really doing anything? Or, they can be busy doing something, but they don’t like what they do or they don’t really believe in what they are doing?

These, to me, are the doers. Now, the Bible talks about “doing” and it is a good thing:

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
— James 1:22

Do-ers and not just hear-ers. That’s pretty clear. And I’m not disputing that. But there’s more to it.

I love the examples that Jesus uses when he talks about fruit. A tree has fruit and that’s a real quick and easy way to know what kind of tree it is. It’s like that with humans too: you can see the kind of person they are by their fruit.

Still, fruit is only what you see. And, to many Christians, fruit equals “doing”. That may not be a bad thing necessarily, but it’s when you are more focused on “doing” than on “be-ing” that you run aground.

It’s an identity thing. What’s in your heart? Or, how are you identifying yourself? What do you think about yourself?

In Jesus’ time there were plenty of people who were good about making sure people were “doing” correctly:

And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
And when the Pharisee saw [it], he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
— Luke 11:37-39

That’s pretty blunt of Jesus Christ, isn’t it? But He had the right perspective. He could see men’s hearts and could therefore make known what was really happening. In this case, the insides of the Pharisee were “ravening” (pillage, plundering) (from harpazó) and “wickedness” (toilsome, bad) (from ponéros).

So ask yourself: Are you more interested in “doing” stuff (and it can even be “good” stuff) than in just “being” (and letting the fruits show)? Are you more interested in “doing” the work of an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher than you are in “being” an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher? Another good question is What has God called you to do?

It can be intimidating to think about just “being”, because we may not “be” very good. But that’s okay. That’s why we have an entire lifetime to keep rooting ourselves in Christ.

Root yourself in Christ and then… just be.