Being vs. Doing

"I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."   -- Genesis 17:1 

There are two types of Christians:

1.)  The Doing based Christian.  Busy doing great things for God.  Frustrated that others don’t do what they should do.

2.)  The Being based Christian.  Busy seeking after more of God.  Longs to please God any every little area no matter what others around him are doing or don’t do or are thinking or don’t think.

 

Many people judge their level of Spirituality and that of others by what they Do for God.  So if they do not see God doing great things with their life or ministry they get discouraged.   

Then they are tempted to brow-beat others around them to try harder to get more done.  This does nothing to change people unless they are willing to be put on a guilt-trip to try harder.   

For instance, a Doing or Performance based Pastor will be tempted to get impatient with his church because they are too dry or they aren’t working enough or they’re not praying enough to see revival or to see the church grow, etc.   

A Pastor who is Being oriented will tend to look at his own self for the source of any lack in his church since he is the leader.  And even if his church is thriving, he will be humbly striving to please God and have an even closer walk with God and he will yet yearn to love God even more.  

 To God the most important thing for me to worry about is my own Spiritual state.  So the most important thing with which I can concern myself is for me to Be through God more than to Do for God.  

 If I am most concerned about my Being, then I am going to be hard only on myself and concern myself about my own attitude.  I will be striving to do whatever God’s will is for me.  And I will be kind, patient, and sweet to others even if they do not seem to measure up to the standard which I impose upon myself.   

God will accomplish His will around me if I myself am Being all that God wants me to be.  God will use the person who is committed to Being the person God wants.  He will use him to lead others to do the same.  Only by Being will God’s will be done in my life and in my ministry. 

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."   -- 2 Chronicles 16:9     

Quotes on Moral Character

"Two indications of a person's character are what makes him laugh and what makes him cry." 

                                     Guide Lamps For God's Lambs by Mary Duren, American holiness missionary

"If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself."

                                     Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (1837-99)

"The character is like white paper: if once blotted, it can hardly ever be made to appear white as before."

                                     Joel Hawes, American clergy (1789-1867) 

"Meantime, bear your cross, and it will bear you.  Seek an inward, not an outward change."

                                     John Wesley, English preacher, founder of Methodism, author (1703-91)

"A tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will fall as it leans."

                                     John Joseph Gurney, English Quaker (1788-1847)

"It is not what a man gets, but what he is, that he should think of.  He should think first of his character, and then of his condition: for if he will have the former, he need have no fears about the latter.  Character will draw condition after it.  Circumstances obey principles."  

                                     Henry Ward Beecher, American clergy (1813-87)

"Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell characters."

                                     John Caspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801)

"The best characters are made by vigorous and persistent resistance to evil tendencies: whose amiability has been built upon the ruins of ill-temper, and whose generosity springs from an over-mastered and transformed selfishness.  Such a character, built up in the presence of enemies, has far more attraction than one which is natively pleasing."

                                     Henry Martin Dexter, American clergy (1821-1891) 

"A holy man or woman has a character that penetrates and moves society wherever they dwell."

                                     G.A. McLaughlin, American clergy, author 

"Make but few exceptions.  The character that cannot defend itself is not worth vindicating."

                                     Frederick William Robertson, English divine (1816-53)

"Since you were born of the Spirit, for it is He who gives you spiritual life.  Read Romans 8:9.  You are, therefore, spiritually alive, and you ought to be growing in Christian character and conduct.  But in your earliest Christian experience there are defects in your inner nature which will always prevent your growing up to be like the Son of God until they are corrected.  It is the filling with the Spirit which will correct these defects and will add to your personality positive qualities to make you like Jesus."

                                      James Elliot, American clergy, missionary, prof. Marion College, author (1947)

"I am not concerned that I have no office; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one.  I am not concerned that I am not known: I seek to be worthy to be known."

                              Francios Duc de La Rochefoucauld, French courtier, moralist (1830-80)