Unbridled

What does it mean to "be" well pleasing to God? We all have our own ideas on the subject, but I recently spent some time meditating on the verse in 2Corinthians 5:9-11 that says:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

I struggled quite a while on it and could not find a peace about it until the Lord brought me to one of the smallest words in the entire scripture. The word is small but quite significant and our understanding of that word is critical to the understanding of the scripture. The word is simply "be". (I made it bold & purple in the verse)

As I pondered the meaning of this small simple word, I decided to find out exactly what that word really means and how it applies to the verse. Below is the definitions give by some of the common dictionary's. But in a nutshell, I understand the word not as an action, but as a position or even more basically as an existence, or in scriptural terms - "abiding". Not an action, but location, a relationship, an identity, or a life. Yes, I would agree that actions will come out of the existence, but I must first "be" before I can "do". (all things through Christ...)

I ask you to read the definitions below and see what you conclude. Is the be an action or an identity. Let me know what you conclude. Also, how does your conclusion affect your understanding of the verse?

Blessings to you in Christ,

Mark

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Definitions: ( I have included the definitions in their entirety so as not to manipulate the outcome towards a desired end.)

be:

verb and auxiliary verb, present singular 1st person am, 2nd are or (Archaic) art, 3rd is, present plural are; past singular 1st person was, 2nd were or (Archaic) wast or wert, 3rd was, past plural were; present subjunctive be; past subjunctive singular 1st person were, 2nd were or (Archaic) wert, 3rd were; past subjunctive plural were; past participle been; present participle be·ing.
–verb (used without object)
1. to exist or live: Shakespeare's “To be or not to be” is the ultimate question.
2. to take place; happen; occur: The wedding was last week.
3. to occupy a place or position: The book is on the table.
4. to continue or remain as before: Let things be.
5. to belong; attend; befall: May good fortune be with you.
6. (used as a copula to connect the subject with its predicate adjective, or predicate nominative, in order to describe, identify, or amplify the subject): Martha is tall. John is president. This is she.
7. (used as a copula to introduce or form interrogative or imperative sentences): Is that right? Be quiet! Don't be facetious.
–auxiliary verb
8. (used with the present participle of another verb to form the progressive tense): I am waiting.
9. (used with the present participle or infinitive of the principal verb to indicate future action): She is visiting there next week. He is to see me today.
10. (used with the past participle of another verb to form the passive voice): The date was fixed. It must be done.
11. (used in archaic or literary constructions with some intransitive verbs to form the perfect tense): He is come. Agamemnon to the wars is gone.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME been, OE béon (béo- (akin to OFris, OHG bim, G bin, OS bium, biom (I) am, OE, OHG, OS būan, ON būa reside, L fuī (I) have been, Gk phy- grow, become, OIr boí (he) was, Skt bhávati (he) becomes, is, Lith búti to be, OCS byti, Pers būd was)) + -n inf. suffix. See am, is, are1, was, were]



The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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be Audio Help (bē) Pronunciation Key
v. First and third person singular past indicative was (wŭz, wŏz; wəz when unstressed), second person singular and plural and first and third person plural past indicative were (wûr), past subjunctive were, past participle been (bĭn), present participle be·ing (bē'ĭng), first person singular present indicative am (ām), second person singular and plural and first and third person plural present indicative are (är), third person singular present indicative is (ĭz), present subjunctive be

v. intr.

1. To exist in actuality; have life or reality: I think, therefore I am.
2.
1. To occupy a specified position: The food is on the table.
2. To remain in a certain state or situation undisturbed, untouched, or unmolested: Let the children be.
3. To equal in identity: "To be a Christian was to be a Roman" (James Bryce).
4. To have a specified significance: A is excellent, C is passing. Let n be the unknown quantity.
5. To belong to a specified class or group: The human being is a primate.
6. To have or show a specified quality or characteristic: She is witty. All humans are mortal.
7. To seem to consist or be made of: The yard is all snow. He is all bluff and no bite.
3. To take place; occur: The test was yesterday.
4. To go or come: Have you ever been to Italy? Have you been home recently?
5. Used as a copula in such senses as:
1. To equal in identity: "To be a Christian was to be a Roman" (James Bryce).
2. To have a specified significance: A is excellent, C is passing. Let n be the unknown quantity.
3. To belong to a specified class or group: The human being is a primate.
4. To have or show a specified quality or characteristic: She is witty. All humans are mortal.
5. To seem to consist or be made of: The yard is all snow. He is all bluff and no bite.
6. To belong; befall: Peace be unto you. Woe is me.


v. aux.

1. Used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice: The mayoral election is held annually.
2. Used with the present participle of a verb to express a continuing action: We are working to improve housing conditions.
3. Used with the infinitive of a verb to express intention, obligation, or future action: She was to call before she left. You are to make the necessary changes.
4. Archaic Used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs to form the perfect tense: "Where be those roses gone which sweetened so our eyes?" (Philip Sidney).

Life in Christ was never meant to be the same old same old. Jesus came to give us New Life. Not a new life with the the same old habits. Living for Christ is one of those old habits we can hold onto–in spite of the pain and hurt it creates. God loves His church, but the church is no longer a building, it is His people. We are His temple. Unfortunately we can easily get caught up in “The Church” that we fall into some old habits there too. We become more concerned with running the church than being the church. It’s not intentional, or at least I choose to believe that for most of us it is not. Never the less, The old ways of “serving God” can creep into our “Church” life.
The unfortunate consequence of this it that the church takes the new life we have in Christ, the life that brings unbridled joy and loses it to the dogmatic ritual of performing for Him instead of living in Him.

Mark

As a young believer, I knew from what I read in the Bible and heard from others that I had a “New Life”, but nothing in my life felt very new. In fact, my life felt like nothing changed except now I felt worse about everything I did that wasn’t “right”or what I thought God expected of me. I felt like I was worse than before. What I didn’t realize is that even though I had a “New Life”, until I received the fullness of the cross, all that Jesus had done for me I wasn’t going to feel any different even though I truly was. You see, until I “Knew Life”, life being all of who and what Jesus accomplished through the cross for me, I would never enjoy the “New Life” He had given me. When I finally knew Life ( John 14:6 “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.) I began to live in the life He created and not the one I was trying to create for Him!

We are who He has created us to be in Him. Life is not what we make it, it is what He has made it. When we can live our life in Him, we can finally live our new life in Him.

Mark

How can our weakness bring glory to God? How can we in our failures be the body of Christ? Can our failures be a tool that God uses to express His love to His people?

Think of it this way. Say you have struggled through an addiction of say... alcohol. God has given you freedom from that addiction and someone who is currently battling that affliction comes to you. They share their struggles with you, all the horrible lies, abuses and behaviors that are associated with alcoholism, they dump out their junk to you. Will you be shocked at the revelation of these things or will you be able to see beyond the affliction and all the horrible things it produces and see how this person is suffering. You have a compassion that is not obscured by the ugliness of the “sin” and instead you can focus on the effects to the person suffering from it. No judgement. No condemnation. Only love, compassion and understanding paired with the amazing hope of healing that you have been able to experience through your own life.

Now say that person comes and shares the same problems and behaviors, I on the other hand am not an alcoholic, I don’t drink and don’t know what it means to experience the pain of detox, or the shame of waking up drunk, covered in vomit having missed my child’s little league baseball championship, all because I just stopped off to have a beer with some friends. I may have compassion for your problem, but it is your problem, I don’t know what that is, I’ve never experienced it. To be honest, it would be hard for me to focus on how you feel, because I am still processing what you did.

You see, I believe that we have endured consequences of the choices we make apart from Christ, notice I didn’t say we are punished by God, because God is not in the punitive business, but that is a discussion for later. But through our trials, through the sufferings of the consequences of our self-life (our life apart from Christ), God can use the power of His grace, love and mercy through us as we are vessels of ministry He uses to heal His children. He uses broken vessels to minister to other broken vessels because His love can be shared through them without judgment or condemnation.

Let conclude by saying this, God does not put us through things for the benefit of other. He doesn’t give you cancer so you can minister to people with cancer. You are not a pawn He uses to reach the other guy. Your affliction is for the sole purpose of building your relationship and dependence on Him. It is very personal, He doesn’t use you as a sacrifice for others. However, as He is revealing Himself to you, He is able to express Himself through you to minister to others with love and compassion because of the work He is doing in you. Again, I don’t believe that God brings suffering onto you for the sole benefit of reaching someone else, He loves you so much more than that. What He does in your life is exclusively for drawing you into greater intimacy with Him. God doesn’t need you to suffer to reach others, he allows your suffering to draw you closer to Him, and in the process, He uses your life as a testimony to His grace, love and mercy.

Unbridled in Him,

Mark

Yesterday my son came to me with a small problem. He had developed some irritating, itchy spots on his legs that he wanted to know what they were and what to do about them. He asked me to look at them which I did. They looked a little like poison ivy, but not quite. They looked a little like a rash of some sort, but not quite. They looked like a bug bite of some sort, but not quite. Anyway, you get the picture. Unsure of what was causing his discomfort, I had compassion for his aliment, because I knew how it felt to have an itchy, uncomfortable rash. Unfortunately, the only thing I could offer him was the less than comforting words, “I understand what you’re going through son, but there really isn’t anything I can do for you. You’re just going to try not to itch it and just deal with it until it goes away.”
I am sure it was little comfort to him, and even though I understood his affliction, I did not really feel his affliction. The next morning, I woke up and found that I too had some of these mysterious itchy spots appearing on my legs as well. I struggled to resist the temptation to scratch and discomfort of these mystery spots. Then it hit me–my son. My heart immediately filled with a new compassion for him. I now did more than just understand his pain, but now was filled with a deeper desire to relieve his suffering. To free him from his pain and discomfort. Now, I was compelled to relieve his suffering with a new determination. I was moved to more than words, my experience had compelled me to find a way to relieve his discomfort. Where before I could only offer words, my experience had now moved me to action. I found some anti-itch ointment and immediately went to him to help relieve the itch. Something else also happened beyond just being moved to action, I now felt a bond with him, “the fellowship of the itch” if you will. And now, every time it scratch my own itch, I am reminded of how much I love him and the common experience we have shared through our trial.
I pondered this new perspective and thought of the stripes Jesus bore for me. The sin He bore for me, the shame, the pain, the rejection. I realized that there is a great difference between God’s understanding of our affliction and the actual suffering and pain He felt with us through His Son. I see more clearly why Jesus chose to be as a man (Philippians 2:8), so that His compassion would be complete, beyond understanding, but knowing our pain, even unto death. I now can also see that there are some things that can only be gained through trials and suffering. No for punishments sake, but that we may be made perfect in peace (James 1-4) able to love with the compassionate heart of Christ.
I rejoice in my itchy rash, for it has opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of how deep is the love of the Father and the Son.