Doing or Being?

I remember someone once telling me that they were going to go to another church because their worship was livelier.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  True, but... livelier doesn't necessarily mean better.  It might, yes, but not necessarily.  Let me explain, and let me use Amos as part of that explanation.

Stuck in the middle of the book of Amos in the Bible is a section that clearly defines what pleases God and what doesn't please God:

READ:  Amos 5: 21-24

Keep in mind that this is God speaking to His people; this is God telling His people what He thinks of what they're doing.  Interesting how what we do a lot of in church - religious festivals, solemn assemblies, offerings, praise music - is what God is saying to stop doing.  Not that any of those things is bad, but what God is saying is that He isn't pleased with us doing those things to the exclusion of bringing justice to the world and living right.  In other words, do the things necessary to help out "the least of these", and get your life right with God - if we do these things, God is pleased.  The other stuff, well, it's all good, but we have to be right first. 

I love this passage.  To me, it speaks of getting our priorities straight - being right with God and doing what He wants us to do to help others - and then celebrating who God is, what God has done, etc.  Of course, while we are 'getting our lives right', we can be celebrating, but first, God wants all of us.  This is so backwards to what we often consider to be the 'norm', in our lives and in our churches - we love to praise God in music, we love to gather to worship Him, we love to give to the church (we do, right?  right?) - and then God goes and tells us that stuff is good but...   Going through the motions for show isn't showing God we have sincere hearts - God wants us to be real.

First question is from the NLT Study Bible:

• When you worship at church, are you more concerned about your image or your attitude toward God?
• Do you ever 'go through the motions', knowing your life isn't what God wants it to be?
• Why do we use rituals and traditions to make ourselves look good?

You see, it's all about God, not us, and so because of this truth, our lives and all we do should be about being as much like God as possible. 

READ:  Isaiah 1: 10-17

A similar passage to the one from Amos, but a bit more blunt, don't you think!  God is saying:

1. Wash yourselves and be clean
2. Get your sins out of my sight
3. Give up your evil ways
4. Learn to do good
5. Seek justice
6. Help the oppressed
7. Defend the cause of the orphans
8. Fight for the rights of widows

A daunting list, to be sure, but hey, it's straight from God and it's what He wants us to be, so...  what's it going to be?  Doing a lot of stuff that might be seen as 'showing off' or not real, or being what God wants us to be - more like Him?  The list above seems like a lot of 'doing' but really, it's all about 'being' what God wants us to be, isn't it?  So again I ask - for you, what's it going to be:  DOING or BEING?

PRAYER

God, you  are so awesome.  Help us to always be looking to you, and to be working at being the very best we can be, more like you.  Doing is good, but being is pleasing to you, and we want you to be pleased by us.  Thank you for challenging us; thank you for loving us; thank you for giving us a template for living! 
Amen.