You Just ARE

"But ye ARE a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:" 1 Peter 2:9 KJV (My own emphasis added)

You just ARE. There's no other way to put it. We spend so much money on makeup, clothes, nails and hair. We strive hard to be good mothers, mentors, and leaders, feeding the homeless, working in the nursery, serving as the pastor's aid, and cleaning the church, but when God tells us to just BE, we get lost. "What do you mean just BE? How can I just be? I thought I have to do?," are the questions we ask ourselves and God when we are presented with the opportunity to walk in the complete liberty of just being ourselves in everyday life as well as what He's called us to do. Yes, I know, "Faith without works is dead." And of course we have to be hearers as well as doers of the Word, but if we are working for the sake of feeling like we've accomplished something with our own sweat, it is not unmerited favor. If we are working solely for the applause of men and not total obedience to God, then our labor is in vain. Are we acting, living, and being who we are called and chosen to be? Are we just on a path that sounds good and will bring home the most bacon? Or are we on the RIGHT path to our personal destinies, working towards being the woman God called us to be? Or are we trying to be a good person, please people, or climb the social status ladder? For me, it's easy to get up and run and help this one and help that one. It's easy for me to run to this service here and that conference there, but can I be still in God's presence for 30 minutes without thinking about my grocery list? Can I meditate on the Word throughout my busy day without worrying about who said this or how I feel about that? Can I just be still and know that God's taken care of all my needs and work one job as a single mother or do I go out there and get 3 jobs to support my family while the streets raise my children? Do I take that extra time that I'm not running to work or useless meetings to teach my children the Word and how to look up scriptures for themselves or do I wait for Sunday School to teach them? Yes you can teach your children the Word! Why? Because you just ARE. You are a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation!!! You just ARE!! If you are IN Christ, you just ARE!

The church is having a MAJOR identity crisis. We don't know who we are anymore. We're running from this image, to that image to this image trying to find a sense of direction for our lives instead of spending time in God's presence to discover who we really are. We don't want to take the time to find ourselves in His Word through prayer, fasting, meditation, and study to get divine direction on how to just be. It's easy to look at someone on TV and fashion yourself around who you THINK they are.  In the church you hear, "I'm like T.D. Jakes. I'm like Sheryl Brady. I'm like Juanita Bynum. I'm like Joel Osteen." Then you come home and your children are saying, "I'm like Beyoncé. I'm like Jay-Z. I'm like Justin Beiber. I'm like Hannah Montana." Then you're wondering where are they getting it from? Let's lead by example by dedicating the time to diligently seek Him for our own personal identity. And to challenge ourselves to TOTALLY embrace the abstract yet literal reality of being a King's kid in the Kingdom of God. Once we as parents, as leaders, as good Christians, discover, believe, and submit to who we are in Christ and get in line, everything else in our lives will come into order as well. We can stop sugar-coating a chaotic reality and get delivered from the distraction of the useless task of putting out contagious small fires.  (You know those little foxes that always seem to escape your grasp. They take your total attention off of God for moments at a time and every time you turn around and get into God, they flair up again and take your undivided attention off of God again. You know the "mole in the hole" game that your finances play or the behavioral problems that your kids have just as you get into a good fast with God. So you grab your mallet and leave God's presence to go chase after the mole and fix the problem. The next thing you know, you find that you can't fix it but the time you were supposed to spend with God has passed again and again and again.) All that will cease once you are obedient to who you are in Him.

We are all like one big harmony in the body of Christ. If we all do our parts as individual chosen vessels, we can create the unique and unmatched harmony that lights the world as we sing praises through our callings of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We will still sound and look different but we will be in unified harmony not copycats singing in unison.