Just being

We get so caught up in doing. As a naturally performance-oriented person (like the other 98% of the human population), I always have to remind myself of what it's all about. So much emphasis is placed on being successful, being noticed, being useful, and we have a hard time just being. I think especially when we're in a relationship with Christ it's so easy to see ourselves as people he saved so he can use us for his work (a point recently made by my friend Sarah). And then it's easy to resent him because we never feel like we're doing enough, and we feel like he's never satisfied with us, and we become slaves again. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). Did God create Adam and Eve and then set them to work so they'd be good enough for him? Obviously not...they basically hung around the Garden of Eden naked, and they loved life until the serpant stepped in. In Genesis 2:15 it says "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it", but that wasn't a stipulation for enjoying fellowship with God. That relationship was the foundation for why Adam and Eve existed and worked, not the other way around. It's the same with us. Why would God create people, and save people, just to use us like chess pieces? Each one of us is meant to be in a relationship with God that's based on his unconditional love for us, not do a relationship with God. After all, he already did the work to make us right with him.

I'm not saying we shouldn't try to make the world a better place, or that we shouldn't try to be obedient to Christ's guidance. But we have to stop basing our worth -- and others' -- on what gets done.