Performance or Relationship?

I must admit, I have a chronic disease that I am working through. Unfortunately my normal state of being is stuck in a performance based world, but the Lord is helping me to overcome and enter in to a more healthy lifestyle that is based on relationship. When you step back from everything for a moment you realize that we really do not believe that we are human beings, but rather human doings? We convince ourselves that we are what we do, but there is a much deeper level to life which delves into the depths of our being. Everything we are and everything we do flows from our being. That is why the most beneficial thing that I can do for myself is work on who I am as an individual.

I have met far to many people that have focused all of their energies on being accepted by some sort of specific crowd by constantly doing and trying to achieve, while in the process they have focused on the external and not the internal. When we do this we enter into an invisible cage of other peoples thoughts, expectations, and requirements. A powerful scripture that has been speaking to me is Ephesians 1:6 which says, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." I am accepted in the family of Christ, not because of my doings or my status among men, but because of my relationship with Christ. I can accomplish many religious goals and fill my day with great causes and tasks, but if this is done at the expense of my relationship with Him what have I truly gained! I am accepted therefore, not because of who I am, but because of who He is! The scripture says in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast."

So, if my works do not save me, why do I get caught up in a performance based world trying to achieve grace or acceptance? One of the greatest lessons to learn is that I am what I am because of my relationship with Him. If I would focus more on the concept of "human being" as opposed to "human doing" I believe that what would flow out of us would be significant. Human doings focus on trying to accomplish the Gifts of the Spirit, whereas Human beings focus on manifesting the Fruits of the Spirit. I heard Bro. Terry Shock mention something that brought my focus back in to alignment, he said, "What our gifts will draw, our lack of fruit will repel!"

I am a pilgrim in progress trying to move from a performance based value system into a relational value system!

Focus

I am convinced that one of the greatest battles that we face in the 21st Century is the fight for focus. There are constant distractions that tend to fight for our attention. I was reading an article last night that really struck me, the average corporate employee receives 200 emails a day. There is such a flood in people's inbox now that there are applications that you can add to Microsoft Outlook that will prioritize your emails for you so that you do not miss what is important mixed in with the unimportant.

When we lose our focus we degenerate immediately into the trap of spending our time on what is urgent as opposed to what is important. We jump from one thing to the next without ever making a difference anywhere. This breeds frustration in our personal lives. What is urgent is rarely what is important. It is learning to see through the constant blur of activity into what is truly important that is difficult.

Spiritually we can lose our focus if we are not constantly prioritizing our lives. We tend to lose focus on what is important, and we tend to flow towards what "appears" urgent. The problem with this is that it is not proactive, but rather reactive. When we constantly prioritize based upon apparent urgency we are always reacting to circumstances and situations. Much of the eternal value in our lives rarely appears urgent, but rather making focused investments into the supposed un-urgent things is of highest priority. The reason this is difficult is that we rarely see results immediately in these investments so we gravitate towards misguided beliefs that what does not show immediate results is not important.

Making deposits into your kids may not seem urgent, but it is eternal. Prayer may not seem what is urgent, but it is the only thing that makes a spiritual difference. Being still and allowing God to be God may seem counter productive, but yet that is many times when God shows up most powerfully. I am challenged daily to focus on the eternal and not chase the urgent.