The Primacy of Being

"The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which [no man can read]. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth...but have removed their heart far from me...therefore...the wisdom of their wise men shall perish..." Isaiah 29:11-14

Here we see marked the sharp (and yet constantly muddled) contrast between being and doing. The Israelites were doing much: they kept (quite religiously) the outward ceremony, pomp and circumstance of their belief system. God, however, was not satisfied. All of their ceremony was asinine; it was all mindless subterfuge that distracted them from what was real and true, i.e., intimate communion with God. They had done many things, but they had left their first love (c.f. Revelation 2:2-4). It is the reverse of James chapter two: their works were plenteous, but their faith was dead. Consequently, their dead faith produced dead works: "Let them kill sacrifices." (Is. 29:1) You can almost feel the sarcasm.

The error Israel committed was a confusion between the primacy of being to doing. The Israelites got it backwards: they thought all of their doing would bring about their being God's chosen people, i.e., who they are was produced by what they do. This is incorrect; the reverse is the truth: your being brings about your doing, i.e., who you are produces what you do. The Israelites had to be God's chosen people before they could truly do like ones, and such being comes about by "hearts drawn near to God," by intimate communion and relationship with God.

This same confusion afflicts the Church today. We have people all across traditional and denominational lines who are still trying to put the cart before the horse. We know that we are to be "Christ-like," but we have the bizarre notion that that being will come from our doing. Such a confusion hits both legalism and liberalism: either you become like Christ by following the rules, or by saving the world through activism. Both ideologies are ultimately about doing. Unfortunately, both ideologies' goals (keep the rules, save the world) are beyond our abilities. Only Christ did both perfectly, so obviously we need to be like Him before we can do like Him.

Christ was who He was because He was one with the Father, and that union is what He desires for us (John 17:3, 20-23). We will get nowhere and be nothing without that intimate communion and relationship with God. All of our doing, regardless of how pious or noble, is all so much sanctimonious hubris, ultimately ranking as our own righteousness, which is filthy rags.

So many ministries, sermons, books on Christian living and life, churches, Christian schools, institutions, organizations, coalitions, programs and services are based solely on this error, i.e., what you do produces what you should be. Very few anymore stress the vital importance of the primacy of being, of the primary role of the intimate communion and relationship with God in Christ. Many churches, ministries, etc., are now dead in the water or spiritual wastelands because they left off knowing God for trying to serve Him.

"Without You

My works are Nothing;

Without You

I am Undone.

Without You

I am still Nothing

Without You

I am still just me..."

-Jon Vowell