Conjugating the Verb “To Be”
I recently re-read Evelyn Underhill’s The Spiritual Life and underlined her famous observation that “Most people spend their lives trying to conjugate the verbs ‘to want,’ ‘to have’ and ‘to keep’—craving, clutching, clinging—when all the Spirit wills us to do is to conjugate the verb ‘to be.’”
Her words hit me harder this time around. I have been guilty of craving, clutching, and clinging. Even after all these years of knowing better and striving to do better. Do any of us crave success or something we think we need but we find out once we have it that we are not joyful? Do any of us cling to things that have become like millstones? Do any of us cling to the slippery things of life and we have drifted far from shore?
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Categories: Bob's Thoughts
Similarly, I experienced major disappointment that after a huge mailer and advertising campaign (huge for our church, at least), a well thought out series, etc etc, our Easter service and the “campaign” that followed it netted not one new person. Our church has meager resources (people and money) and something needs to change for us to overcome and thrive (survive, even). So I had a drawn out pity party. But it occurred to me that I was lacking joy. It occurred to me that all of God’s promises were still true for us, and there was much to preach about (Jesus still saves, Christ is still Lord, we are blessed with eternal life and his indwelling experience).
As a result, I pulled my head out of the place I can’t mention on this Christian webpage, and determined to preach the glories of God and our salvation with him. Yes, we are still in dire straights, yes, we need to work smart and hard if our local expression of Christ’s body is to continue. But being all depressed because I did not get certain external results was robbing me–and the church–of not only what He has done and is doing for us, but it blinded me to the growth that was actually happening within the people of the church itself. I began to see God at work IN US.
It’s an ongoing discovery and quest.
It seems when I lose sight of the Greatest Commandment (Mt22:36-38) – and what flows out of it (Mt22:39-40) then I am in trouble. If I don’t fully love God then I won’t be content with any amount of “success” I have…and if “success” never comes my way – so long as I am doing #’s 1 & 2 – then I’d say Phil4:11 certainly applies.
Not an easy task at all…but certainly a worthwhile one (I’m a proponent of removing “easy” from the English language – it’s a worthless word).
That’s easy for you to say. . .
I have to define myself. And “to be” doesn’t let me have the final say. I’m antsy right now to define who i am, by my position at work, status among peers, and ‘proof’ of my capabilities to serve God and others. I’m finding ‘to be’ is the root of the Gospel and its robust time and time again…now if i can only stay put in that truth!