Called to Be!

Public Domain via Pixabay.com

We spend most of our time concerned about having. Do I have enough money to pay the rent or buy groceries? I want to have a yellow convertible camaro. Do I have what it takes to be a motivational speaker? And yet having comes as a result of doing, and doing comes out of who we are (being).

When I first heard the saying: “Be, and you will Do, and when you Do you will have;” It took me a bit to wrap my head around it. And yet, that is so true. And when we become aware of what that principle teaches, we will start focusing on different things. We have little control over the third element, the HAVING. But we have a lot of control over the first two.

God calls us first to BE. This means that He is inviting us to be and to become the men and women of character He designed us to be. Men and women who place God first. Men and women who know their value in the eyes of God. Folks that deal honestly, and are loved, and are loving. Men and women who value hard work, and who envision the things He envisions. People whose hearts break for the things that break His. People who appreciate serving others.

In some ways it is hard to separate BEING from DOING. That is because often repeated doing leads to being, and being naturally results in doing. But we can do things we are not yet. For example, you can be a lying cheat, and still do one honest business deal. Being is about what becomes our nature. The deepest innermost part of our character. It is when you are intrinsically a caring person, not when you force yourself to care once. Ultimately, a fruit shows the character of the tree. You produce what you are.

And that which He calls us to BE, God calls us to DO. To love others. To do business honestly and with integrity. To create solutions to serve the needs of the world. To care about our fellowmen. And to work with our gifts and skills to better the world around us. To plant the field, to cultivate it, and tend it through the entire year. To do the work that grows out of our being. Jesus says that if you will find a way to serve many, that is the way of greatness.

He designed us to be partners with Him in creating art, building solutions, caring for animals, and cultivating what we plant. And when the harvest comes, to work in the fields to bring the harvest in. When He created the Garden and put Adam in charge, He intended it to be a working partnership.

To HAVE is the fruit of the first two. When we plant, and cultivate and bring in the harvest with integrity and character, the blessing is up to God. Because we have come to think of business from an industrial worldview, we have come to think of us creating what we have. But if we look at the world from a healthier agricultural worldview, it is easy to see that the amount of the harvest still lies in God’s hand. He sends the rain, the sun, and the energy needed to cause the harvest to grow.

Even though that is less clear in the world of business, this is still true. We can plant, in fact we are called to plant, and we are called to cultivate, but the harvest is still from God. Even in relationships this is true. You can be an authentic caring human being, and you can love others selflessly, but ultimately it is a blessing to have great loving friends who love you back selflessly.

Yes, God still blesses us through who we are and what we do most of the times. If you sit at home and you don’t plant the field, don’t expect God to bless you with a harvest. Does that mean God can’t bless you out of the goodness of His heart? No, maybe He will decide to bless you with a friend who will bring you a steak dinner on your rocking chair. God is capable of doing that. He is just unlikely to do that, because He created us to create with Him. To love others with him. To be Farmers, Artist, Marketers, Journalists and Entrepreneurs. When He created Adam, He gave Adam a Garden to care over.

The fall caused weeds to grow in our gardens. In other words, working progress became harder. Weeds keep getting in the way. And sometimes weeds seem to steal all the fruits of your labour. But God promised that He would bless us in the New Covenant. He promised to guide us, to work with us, and if we listen to His Spirit, we have a leg up in this blessing. The new covenant restored partnership to our daily lives. But He always intended for us to work. That is still part of the original design.

To Be and Do, is the directive from before the Fall. It is part of being in relationship with God. And it is still part of the relationship with God in the New Covenant we have through Christ Jesus. And if we do well in BEING and DOING, we can trust God that He will cause us to HAVE more than enough to fulfill the purpose for which He has created us. That is in His nature. Look at the names He gives Himself sometime. The Creator, The Healer, The Father, The Provider.

Blessing us is in His nature. Its just that we want the blessings on our terms. We want to have what we haven’t been and haven’t done. We want to buy a lotto 649 ticket and win a million dollars we haven’t worked for. We haven’t served anybody for that reward. We haven’t created anything for that payday. We haven’t sowed, haven’t cultivated, and we want the harvest to walk itself into the storeroom. It doesn’t work that way. God never intended it to work that way.