Doing vs. Being
My brilliant husband spoke his first message of the New Year on the subject of our character and how it’s importance supersedes that of anything we will ever accomplish tangibly in this life. I have subsequently found myself challenged almost daily to ponder what this really means.
I think as a stay at home mom, I’m sometimes faced with the question of “what am I doing with my time?” It can be easy to find myself wanting to accomplish something just so that I feel like I am doing more. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be accomplished. There is, however, a problem when checking off a daily task becomes a substitute for working on my relationship with God and allowing Him to shape me.
How many husbands lose sight of what is truly important in a marriage, because they’re too busy at work; even if their motives are pure in their desire to make life better for the ones they love? It wasn’t that their desire to provide a comfortable living for their family was wrong, but in that desire, did they lose sight of even being there with the family they were so trying to please to begin with?
The same happens in our walk with God. A lot of times we get so busy doing things for Him, that we forget to just be with Him. It’s the classic Mary/Martha syndrome. Remember Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)? Sisters who both wanted to serve their Master Jesus, but went about it in two very different ways. Mary, who simply sat at Jesus’ feet, while her sister Martha flew around in a frenzy, trying to make sure everything was perfect for the Lord. The moral of the story becomes clear when we take note of Jesus’ reactions to these two ladies. He actually tells Martha that it’s her sister Mary that has the right idea: just be with Him. Don’t get so worried about things to do that you forget to simply be in His presence.
It all comes down to this simple truth:
If I’m not who I need to be, it doesn’t matter what I do.
At the end of the day, it’s who I am that matters a lot more than what I do. If I accomplish a glowing list of credentials, but find myself further away from the Lord than ever before, I have actually accomplished very little. If I talk about God and family to groups of thousands, but my own children feel neglected, then I have failed. If I boast about my strong marriage, but don’t have intimacy in my relationship with my husband, then we’re a fraud. The list goes on and on, but the simple fact remains: God is always so much more concerned with who I am than what I can do.
Today, think about this idea and how it can and should make changes in the way you live. I think you’ll find yourself just as challenged as I have been.