Why BEING before DOING is critical to your emotional and spiritual health.
Why BEING with God before DOING for God is critical to your emotional and spiritual health.
“So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work,” Nehemiah 2:11-16.
Nehemiah prayed for FOUR months before he arose and went to Jerusalem for his infamous “call to rebuild the wall” (this was the period of time between Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2). It’s easy to assess, THEN pray after we’ve seen what we’re up against. It’s much harder to do what Nehemiah did by WAITING and PRAYING first before doing anything else.
Look again at what Nehemiah said in V12 of our main text- “I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.”
As a leader, more times than I’d care to admit, I’ve rushed into situations without waiting and praying first. Often the pressures of expectation and urgency prove too much to resist. Can you relate?
That is why it’s imperative for ALL Christ-followers to BE with God before we DO for God. If we DO for God without BEING with God first, it severely clouds our judgment. In addition to the example of Nehemiah above, here are 2 other Biblical examples explained by Peter Scazzero, author of Emotionally Healthy Leader, showing just how imperative the Theological principle of BEING before DOING is:
Example #1- Jesus. Before launching His public ministry of doing for the Father, Jesus spent almost 30 years largely in obscurity for the intentional purpose of deeply establishing His identity and oneness with the Father FIRST (aka- BEING).
Once He launched His ministry, Jesus intentionally moved back and forth between doing active ministry and being alone with the Father. He never “graduated” from “being,” which is a marvelous example for us to imitate.
- Luke 5:15-16: But now even more the report about Him (Jesus) went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear Him and to be healed of their infirmities. But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
When Jesus selected the 12 disciples, He modeled the same patterns and rhythms for them, requiring that they BE with Him before doing active ministry for Him.
- Mark 3:14-15 says this- He appointed the 12 that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. — Mark 3:14-15.
Example #2- The 12 disciples. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, the 12 carried on Jesus’ discipleship pattern of being before doing as they led the early church. Their attention to prayer and the Word of God took precedence over all else.
- Acts 6:2-4- 2 And the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Even when the early church experienced explosive growth, they refused to allow the demands and problems of ministry to compromise being with Jesus before doing for Jesus.
This principle is easy to teach but challenging to live out because it requires a HIGH LEVEL of self-awareness. When we choose BEING before DOING, we come face to face with what lies deep beneath the surface of our lives. That’s why it’s so much easier to just DO.
You know you’re DOING before BEING when some of the following external behaviors begin to come to the surface: Self-protection, possessiveness, manipulation, self-promotion, and the need to distinguish yourself from others.
These can be difficult to identify. Things get dangerous when we find our sense of worth and well-being in what we have, what we do, or what other people think of us. Only the Christ-follower who effectively practices BEING WITH GOD, can sustain their DOING FOR GOD. This is why burn-out is so prevalent within the Church.
To BE before you DO is as revolutionary today as it was when Nehemiah practiced it thousands of years ago.
Keep Looking Up,
Rev. Jon Barrett
Executive Director of CVCCS
CVCCS is a proud member and ambassador of the True Charity Network.