Being Comes Before Doing

Oftentimes we stake our identities on our activities, or by what we do. I suppose that's just natural. After all, we are a "doing" kind of people. We "do" so that we "earn" the privilege to "be".

I propose that in God's economy, this is exactly backwards. Our identity is foremost in Christ and what he has done for us in the cross in the redemption of our bodies and souls. The activities in which we engage are to flow from this identity. Being comes before doing. If doing comes first, then we will make idols out of our activities and doings. Then we will stop at nothing to keep that idol going. We'll forsake our health, our relationships, our leisure time-- our being.

Ultimately, our identity is our image. Either we provide the image or God provides the image. If we provide the image it becomes an object of our affections and our worship. If God provides the image, then we give praise and thanks to our Creator by first being, and then through loving and serving our neighbor.