Invitation To A Journey by Robert Mulholland Jr. – The new book I’ve just opened up and have started reading. It’s a “Road Map for Spiritual Formation.” I’m about 40 pages in and if I weren’t a part of a Bible Study, I would have finished it by now.
This book is all about a spiritual formation as a process, not the instant gratification our culture is used to. It’s about being formed… not by doing but by being, and it’s all to be formed into the image of Christ for the sake of others.
Well, I read something today and wanted to share with you; it helped me understand the relationship of doing and being. It’s a passage I’ve struggled with as it seems harsh but my eyes were opened. I pray this helps you too if this is something that hasn’t “felt” right with your soul.
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At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus deals with the interplay of being and doing in a rather frightening statement. He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). He seems to put all the emphasis on doing on the functional dynamics. But then Jesus continues, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?” (Matthew 7:22). Certainly these are the works of God, are they not, prophesying, casting out demons, doing many mighty works, all in Jesus’ name?
Jesus doesn’t contradict them. He does not say, “No, you didn’t.” He says, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23). They had the works, the doing, but they didn’t have the relationship with Jesus, the being, as the foundational reality those works would flow out of. Jesus was pointing to the interrelationship between our doing and our being, but indicating that the order is from being to doing. The doing is an outflow, the result, of a being that exists in relationship with Jesus as Lord. So spiritual formation is not something that we do to ourselves or for ourselves, but something we allow God to do in us and for us as we yield ourselves to the work of God’s transforming grace.
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We don’t do things to earn God’s favor. We already have God’s favor, His grace. We don’t do things to be with God, He is already here with us, and we just have to open ourselves up to be with Him. The more I’ve reflected on this, the more I’ve realized this is a struggle. If I just find the right Bible Study, the right teacher, the right group members to challenge me, I’ll grow closer to God. But I have it all wrong. I’ve realized I’m at a point where I need to stop doing and just be. Don’t even put an ounce of energy in the doing… but put my efforts into just being with God.
And how do I do that… I’m sure hoping the rest of this books helps with that.
Find the book here:
