Acting vs Being...To Act Takes Effort...To Be Is Effortless...

Acting vs Being…to act takes effort…to be is effortless. To act kind…to act forgiving…to act loving…to act like a Christian…takes a lot of effort and on days that one may not be up to the challenge of acting…we may get just about anything. To be kind…to be forgiving…to be loving…to be a Christian…is effortless…if it is who one is…that’s what you get all the time…in spite of what they are going through.

We make excuses sometimes for our behavior…the way we treat each other…what others did or didn’t do…how we were or weren’t treated…what we did or didn’t have. It’s easy to come up with justification for our behaviors…and rightly so, sometimes, in our eyes. But for those of us who are being…not acting…like Christians, our concern should be whether or not our excuse or justification will pass God’s judgement. As we know, he looks at our hearts…our intentions…our motives…no matter what comes out of our mouths or how we act. We can act kind…act forgiving…act loving and even act like a Christian…but if there is something contrary to that going on in our hearts…we are wasting our time…our lives…acting.

For those who have chosen the Christian lifestyle…the goal is to be God’s description of who His people are…not our version…but His, which He has clearly laid out in His Word. If we haven’t studied His Word…all of it…then we don’t know what we are supposed to look like or are supposed to be doing. It’s not possible for us to get all that we need by attending church on Sunday and Wednesday. Just like we need personal time in our personal relationships to get to know each other…we need personal time in our relationship with God to get to know Him…and who we are supposed to be. The growth of one who spends time growing their relationship with God is evident…it’s not possible to stay the same when you’re spending personal time studying God’s Word, praying and worshipping Him, daily.

Some of us live our entire lives and never get where God wants us to be…live out who He created us to be…because we didn’t take the time…we were just too busy or it wasn’t important enough for us to spend the time He needed us to spend with Him, while here on this earth, regardless of distractions and our emotions…so that we could spend eternity with Him.

Don’t act like…Be who God has created you to be…inside…out…

We have to invest the time in Him, so we can qualify for the reward…at the end of the day…of hearing Him say…’Well Done…’