Being and doing

There is a constant tension we face as followers of Jesus between being the church and doing church.  In the best circumstances we fully embrace our identity as the church of Christ and it influences and flows through every aspect of our lives.  On the other hand we can slip into the comfortable behavior of simply doing the things we think the church does and it has minimal impact on anything we do other than being an annoyance because we need to check some activities off our list.

Doing is easy.  It's fairly simple and pain free.  It maintains the status quo and there's no worries about rocking the boat.  It doesn't have to have any affect on our relationships because we can choose when we do church, we can turn it on and off for convenience.

But when we are totally consumed with being the church everything is impacted.  There is nothing we do that goes untouched because being the church is at the core of our identity.  It changes how we work, how we relate to our friends and family, how we live out our everyday lives.

I find that my world is constantly being rocked by a growing awareness of how each and every day I need God.  I need His reminders that I am loved, that I have been called His child.  I need His reminders that He is the source of who I am.  I need Him because I realize how easy it is for me to slip into doing rather than being.