🕊️In Him We Live and Move and Have Our Being

There is a difference between doing something in order to become something and doing something because of who you already are.

Religion often teaches us to do.

Do better. Pray more. Believe harder. Get it right. Be more obedient. Produce more fruit. Have more faith.

And maybe then we will be blessed.

Maybe then we will be accepted.

Maybe then we will become who God wants us to be.

But the revelation of God through Jesus Christ invites us into something entirely different.

Being.

Before man ever did anything, God said:

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion.”

God's intention was established before man ever took a breath.

Image.
Dominion.

Man did not have to work his way into the image of God. He was created in it.

He did not have to chase dominion. God gave it to him.

He did not even have to subdue the earth in order to obtain dominion. He subdued because dominion had already been given to him.

What he did was supposed to come from who he was.

And perhaps nowhere is this more beautifully demonstrated than in the fact that man's first full day was the Sabbath.

God worked.

God finished.

God rested.

And then man entered into a work he had not performed.

Adam opened his eyes in a Garden he had not planted. Fruit was already hanging from trees he had not grown. Rivers were already flowing. Seed was already in the earth. Everything necessary for fruitfulness and multiplication had already been provided.

And from this place God blessed him and said:

“Be fruitful and multiply; replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion.”

Notice where man was standing when God told him to be fruitful.

He was standing in a place full of fruit.

Notice where God told him to multiply.

He was standing in a creation designed for multiplication.

Man was not being asked to produce abundance from emptiness.

He was being invited to participate in the abundance God had already created.

He began in rest.

He began in the finished work of God.

Then came the fall.

And outside of the Garden, everything changed.

The ground produced thorns and thistles. Bread came by the sweat of man's face. What had once been received as provision now had to be wrestled from the earth through toil.

Man entered a world where he had to do in order to have.

And I wonder how much of that fallen way of thinking we have carried into our relationship with God.

We work to be accepted.

We perform to be righteous.

We strive to be blessed.

We try to produce enough faith to make God move.

We attempt to become through our doing what God has already declared through Jesus Christ.

Then Jesus comes and says:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Rest.

That sounds familiar.

The story began with God finishing His work and man entering His rest.

And the new creation begins with Jesus declaring:

“It is finished.”

Then He invites us in.

The good news is not that there is more work for you to accomplish before God will receive you.

The good news is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

The good news is that the work has been accomplished.

The good news is that there is a rest remaining for the people of God.

And the invitation is:

Come in.

Maybe you believe.

Maybe you want to believe.

Maybe, like the father who brought his son to Jesus, your prayer is:

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Come in anyway.

You do not have to manufacture perfect faith before you can come to Jesus.

You come to Jesus with the faith you have.

You come tired.

You come uncertain.

You come carrying questions.

You come with your unbelief still asking for help.

Because the invitation was never:

Figure everything out, and then come to Me.

It was:

Come to Me, and I will give you rest.

Know Him

Jesus said:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Eternal life is knowing God.

This is why seeking first the Kingdom means so much.

To seek the Kingdom is to seek the reality of God.

Who is He?

What is He like?

What does He desire?

What are His intentions?

What has He accomplished?

What has He said?

And what does His being King mean for those who belong to Him?

Scripture gives us the answer.

He sits high upon His throne.

The train of His robe fills the temple.

None can stay His hand or ask Him, “What are You doing?”

He is God.

Sovereign.

Almighty.

Unstoppable in His purposes.

But who is this sovereign God?

He told us Himself.

He is:

gracious,
merciful,
slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love,
faithful,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.

The One whose hand cannot be stayed is merciful.

The One whose purposes cannot be frustrated is faithful.

The One sitting upon the throne abounds in a love that endures forever.

He is Provider.

He is Healer.

He is our Banner.

He is our Peace.

He is our Righteousness.

He is our Shepherd.

He is our Portion.

And His people are His portion.

His inheritance.

He rejoices over us with joy.

He quiets us with His love.

He rejoices over us with singing.

Know Him.

Because those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits.

Notice the order.

They know.

They are strong.

They do exploits.

Knowing.

Being.

Doing.

The One Thing Needed

Consider Martha and Mary.

Martha was serving Jesus.

There was nothing inherently wrong with what she was doing.

But she was troubled.

Burdened.

Distracted by much serving.

Mary sat at His feet and listened.

And Jesus said:

“One thing is needed.”

Before doing for Him, know Him.

Before serving Him, receive from Him.

Before attempting to represent Him, sit at His feet and discover who He is.

Because it is possible to do remarkable things in the name of Jesus and still miss the point entirely.

Jesus warned that many would say to Him:

“Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?”

Look at their confidence.

Look at what we did.

We prophesied.

We cast out demons.

We performed wonders.

And Jesus answered their doing with something completely different:

“I never knew you.”

They presented their works.

He spoke of knowing.

This is eternal life:

That they may know You.

The goal was never merely to do things for God.

The invitation was to know Him.

And when we know Him, we begin to discover who we are.

The Revealing of Sons

Creation is not waiting for the revealing of religious workers.

Scripture says:

“The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

Sons.

A servant may be known primarily by what he does.

But a son is known by who he is.

An employee works for wages.

An heir receives because of relationship.

That does not mean the son does nothing.

The son may work harder than everyone else.

The son may accomplish great exploits.

The son may replenish, subdue, build, create, serve, give, heal, restore, and exercise dominion.

But he does not do these things to become a son.

He does them because he is one.

Jesus lived from this place.

He knew who He was.

He knew whose He was.

He knew the Father loved Him.

He knew the Father was with Him.

He knew where He came from.

He knew where He was going.

And from that place, He moved.

The blind saw.

The deaf heard.

The lame walked.

The dead were raised.

Storms became still.

Captives were set free.

Jesus did not perform to become the Son.

His works flowed from His relationship with the Father.

And now:

“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.”

We are invited into sonship.

Into inheritance.

Into rest.

Into the knowledge of God.

Into Christ.

In Him

Paul stood in Athens and declared:

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

Perhaps we have spent too much time trying to live outside of the place where life is found.

Trying to produce peace instead of knowing the God who is our peace.

Trying to produce righteousness instead of knowing the One who is our righteousness.

Trying to manufacture provision instead of knowing our Father as Provider.

Trying to become acceptable instead of discovering that we have been accepted in the Beloved.

Trying to work our way toward a place that God has invited us to enter by faith.

In Him.

This is the place from which we live.

This is the place from which we move.

This is the place from which we have our being.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

This is the space He occupies.

Rest.

Freedom.

Sonship.

Inheritance.

The Kingdom.

Not because there is nothing left for us to do.

There is much to do.

There is an earth waiting for the revealing of sons.

There are broken hearts to bind.

There are captives who need liberty.

There are ruins to rebuild.

There are places to replenish.

There are things to subdue.

There is dominion to exercise.

There are great exploits to be done.

But we do not have to chase dominion.

We do not have to perform our way into sonship.

We do not have to earn an inheritance.

We do not have to finish what Jesus already declared finished.

We begin where man began.

In the finished work of God.

We begin with Sabbath.

We begin with rest.

We begin with knowing Him.

And from there—

Be fruitful.

Multiply.

Then replenish.

Subdue.

Exercise dominion.

Not to become who God created you to be.

But because, in Christ, you are finally discovering who you have always been intended to be.

So if you are tired today, come.

If you are burdened, come.

If religion has exhausted you, come.

If you believe, come.

If you want to believe but need help with your unbelief, come.

Jesus did not say, “Get yourself together and come.”

He said:

“Come to Me.”

The work is finished.

The rest is available.

The Father is waiting to be known.

And knowing Him changes everything.

For in Him we live.

In Him we move.

And in Him we have our being.