Let’s start off this discussion taking a cursory glance at Shakespeare’s literary work Hamlet. In his soliloquy, “To be, or not to be – that is the question: Whether is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles …,” we see the essence of simply being.
For years. I’ve been intrigued with the concept of being versus doing.
Many years ago, my dear friend Jay Carty, founder of Yes! Ministries, wrote a short piece that has stuck with me ever since I first read it.
In that writing, Carty, like most men admitted that he was a doer. His wife, Mary, challenged him to not focus on doing but on just being!
Over the years, I’ve dabbled with the idea of simply being rather than doing. My main source of study has been God’s word. and I find it fascinating that God referred to Himself to Moses as “I AM” for the purpose of letting the Israelites know Who had sent Moses to free His people.
In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” and then He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.”
It appears there’s something to this being versus doing attitude. So, in your mind are you a doer?
Carty also published a book on the Beatitudes designed to reach kids for Jesus Christ some years back entitled, O. Whillikers in the Hall of Champions. The intended audience may have been young boys and girls dealing with adversity in life, but I know many adults also gleaned much from his creative approach using eight colorful illustrated stories to explain the teachings of Jesus.
The term “Blessed are …” starts off nine straight verses as Jesus taught the multitude. (Matthew 5:3-11) Note that Jesus taught us the be-attitudes not the do-attitudes!
Doing is our natural tendency, but I’ve come to conclude that God is not that concerned with all we do. He’s most concerned about our relationship with Him and those He puts around us. It’s really about our being not our doing!
When we busily go around doing things, we miss out on what God wants of us. It’s all about our availability — not our ability.
Let’s imagine God has the ability to move through this universe greater than the speed of light, while we move along at a snail’s pace in comparison. We’d be wise to slow down and realize that we simply need to look around us, experience God’s handiwork and His presence, and listen to His desires for our lives.
We need to stop, look and listen — to be still and know that He is God! (Psalm 46:10)
Passages to Ponder
— Jim Langley has been writing for more than 30 years while working as a life and health insurance agent in Santa Barbara. In recent years, his passion has turned to writing about his personal relationship with God, and his goal is to encourage others to draw near to Him as well. As a longtime member of CBMC of Santa Barbara (Christian Business Men’s Connection), he started writing Fourth Quarter Strategies columns in 2014, and he now reaches an international audience through the CBMC International devotional Monday Manna. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.