Two Types of Christians: Be-ers And Do-ers

This morning the Lord was showing me something from a new perspective.  You know how we tend to value ourselves according to our accomplishments?  Like if we have gotten something done in the day, we feel it was a successful day?

The Lord isn’t like that.  He loves us unconditionally, regardless of what work we did with our hands.  He is concerned about our spiritual heart, and that begins with the labor we do in (entering) His rest.  He just loves hanging out with us!  He loves us being delighted in spending time with Him, and though this is the opposite of “accomplishing” something with our time and the work of our hands, it is accomplishing great things in the Spirit.  I call it “the battle between being and doing.”

Our flesh wants to say, “Well, if I don’t get moving and do it, nothing will get done.”  This is true under some conditions, such as when our flesh is fundamentally lazy.  But for most of us, we are not lazy.  Instead we are self-reliant to a fault.  Given the choice of working and “getting something done,” or sitting still before the Lord and being comfortable in that stillness, our flesh chooses the activity.  So we feel good about the activity, but what the Lord is really trying to teach us is to first be comfortable in His presence and hearing Him.  Then, as He gives us assignments — that’s when our activity becomes meaningful, and worthwhile.  Then it is activity that is His activity, out of obedience.  And what a feeling at the end of the day — that we did what the Master wanted us to do!

This is really about trust.  Does the Lord know our busy schedule?  Do we trust Him that we will still be able to fulfill our responsibilities, and still have time to spend time with Him and even solicit Him for what He wants us to do today? To trust Him is to have faith.

To the avid, hands-on, self-reliant doer, “God helps those who help themselves.”  What an awful twisting of God’s truth.  The truth is, “God helps those who ask for His help.”  The be-er is content to rest in the Lord, and await their next spiritual assignment.  The curious thing is, more spiritual work gets done in resting before the Lord, than in flurries of activity out of the soul.  This is because the “be-er” commands more angels, who will minister more powerfully in behalf of those who employ greater spiritual authority by reason of their deeper relationship with the Master.

May God help us all to become better “be-ers!”

With love for our King, Jesus,

–Paul Norcross