Being Before Doing
In this consists the Life of the Ages - in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. John 17:3 (Weymouth)
Peter and Heather were very good friends of ours. They were such good friends, Linda and I stayed with them a few nights on our honeymoon. We had much in common. We were both young newlyweds with dreams of making a life together, discovering God's plan for our lives and living a life dedicated to His service. After getting married, they had moved to a small rural town on the fringe one of Australia's best tourist destinations. They connected with a new church plant and threw themselves into serving.
A few years later they moved to the same city as us and joined the same church. There were warnings signs. I don't know if anyone sat down with them and discussed how their life was going. By this stage, they had two children. Peter was throwing himself into work and various business ventures to try and get ahead - so they could build their dream house. They had moved out of town to live on a rural block. Heather became isolated from friends and church. Peter was so caught up in work that Heather was virtually a single mother. He came home late and left early. She was left with the kids, isolated in run-down temporary accommodation through hot summer evenings and freezing winter mornings.
We visited Heather just once and was shocked at her situation. But other than talking about it driving home, we did nothing about it. I should have booked a coffee with Peter and had a heart to heart talk with him. That was thirty years ago. Having seen this story repeated a few times and lived through some of it ourselves, we are older and wiser.
It wasn't long after that we heard Heather had got a job in town and developed an emotional attachment with another man. He probably found her attractive and gave her some attention. Their marriage spiralled into chaos and their family 'fell' apart. People in the church were shocked. How could this happen to Peter and Heather?
However, marriages and dreams don't just fall apart. They rot from the inside.
Ever since Eden our fallen human nature has wanted to find life in the externals of what we have, what we do, and what people think of us. We are not designed to find life that way. God made us to live from the inside out. We are designed first to find life in our relationship with Him, to be strengthened by the key relationships God has ordained in family and church and from that foundation serve others - fulfilling His call on our lives.
Only in this God-ordained manner of life is there the grace to live the God kind of life, life eternal or as Weymouth translated John 17:3, the 'Life of the Ages'.
Typically Christians reverse this paradigm. We put up a veneer of Christian service, neglect our God ordained relationships and place our devotional life with God in the 'when I have time' basket. We can sustain this for a while. We can fool people and run the gauntlet of life's trials. Sooner or later, the 'doing before being' lifestyle will come crashing down around us.
In Luke 10:38-42, we read the account of Mary and Martha ministering to Jesus at their house. Martha runs about franticly 'doing'. The Bible says she was 'distracted' by preparations. She was distracted from what was most important at that moment, and every day, to set aside the time to spend with Jesus. Mary, on the other hand, 'was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word.' Jesus said that Mary had chosen the 'good portion that will not be taken away from her'. The good portion was the best cut of meat, the first pick of the fruit table, the prime offering and it would remain and feed her for her whole life. Mary had chosen 'being' before 'doing'. Martha, on the other hand, had chosen to do the works of God (service) but from a place of self-effort. Whatever the outcome of her efforts, they did not have their foundation in Christ, they would not last, and they would not sustain her- they count for nothing in eternity. (1 Cor 3:10-15)
The miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 is indeed outstanding. However, besides the apparent headline of a stunning miracle, a closer reading of the accounts in Mark 6 and Matthew 14, gives a wonderful insight into Jesus' personal devotional life, and how he led his disciples by encouraging their devotional life. Jesus had just heard about his cousin John's death, so he withdrew himself and his disciples to a 'secluded place'. Then, when the crowd found them and after ministering, Jesus again 'went up to the mountain to pray and when it was evening, He was there alone'.
If the Lord of the Heavens intentionally made the time to spend in devotion with His Father and purposefully fellowship in prayer and devotion with whom he had meaningful relationships, why can't we? If Jesus needed to focus on 'being' before 'doing'- surely we should as well.
To live life as God would have us, life eternal, the God-kind of life, we must learn to 'be' who He has made us to be, to love and live with whom he has placed us with - before we 'do' anything else he has called us to do.
