My Life: #29 Doing to Get

Not I, but Christ has been my greatest challenge in my Christian walk. After "doing to get" for many years, releasing Christ to live is my greatest honor.

A LIFE OF DOING TO GET

Do you know how difficult it is not to do nice things for people without expecting something in return? Of course, you do! This crazy upside, wrong action is addictive and almost unavoidable. That is if most of us are willing to be honest. The lion’s share of human behavior is based on this irony.

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As a man who expects a return on all investments, doing nice things when nobody sees - it rubs against my nature. After years of learning the best investment is in releasing the indwelling Life of Jesus has honed my skills in pleasing the One who sees all things done in secret.

My past is filled with doing things to get things. Honestly, everything I did was for me and NOT for God. Here is a list of some of those things:

This is not just a list cut and pasted out of my workbook, Identity Matters, Advancing Life Within. It is my list. Allow me to explain the problem.

The above diagram is a picture of a person’s life, my life, your life.  Central to this life is a crown showing self-rule and personal ownership of one’s life.  The Word is clear that life cannot be found in people, places, or things.  When believers attempt to do so, they will direct their worship toward those items that motivate them.  The arrows pointed inward are a pictorial of the believer attempting to draw life from that source, thus being deceived into thinking that fulfillment can be found in that particular idol.  Self-rule is an attempt to make the external things positive (+), to overcome the big negative (-) on the outside.  The result is failure and disappointment, which results in playing God.

This is exactly what resulted in my life.  Any time I perceived something as being negative or about to go negative, I did what I thought most Christians did – tried to fix it by turning it into a positive.  As you probably have figured out by now, this is what forms idolatry.  Thinking that the Christian life must be perfect, I worked tirelessly to keep all the plates spinning at one time.  I turned into a “Christian Doing to Get.” 

I’m a fix-it man - as a counselor and worker within my home. If something isn’t working properly, like my father, I would invent things if I had to fix it. Well, that’s fine and dandy if it is a broken door, but when it comes to the lives of those we are ministering to, it doesn’t work.

This diagram was birthed through a powerful lesson the Lord taught me. As a young counselor, when people brought me circumstances that were out of control, I would assign homework to fix the external - turn it into a + to improve their lives. The problem was, the next time they came in, another would be out of control. My madness method became spinning plates on a stick. It wore me out, as well as my counselees.

All of the items noted in diagram E/I-101 can be worthwhile activities. The problem is that the focus is still on external fulfillment and the self is still ruling.  Just as “busy” as the diagram looks, the same becomes true for the believer. All of this busyness can overtake the person’s life.  Many are encouraged to “get busy” serving the Lord by the Church – family, friends, counselors, pastors, etc.  This does not make it right; it makes them just as wrong as the believer falling for such deception.  Satan wants us to focus on the externals because that is where he lives - for he is the “god” of the external world.  Thus, practicing externals to find fulfillment actually fulfills the enemy’s goal – do to be.

One of the greatest mysteries of the flesh is found in this pictorial.  Christians play God by trying to solve problems without tapping into Christ within them, or for the unsaved – calling out to God.  Most believers act like nonbelievers by turning to worldly ways of coping, rather than turning to Christ living within them. People want to be a god of their own lives and live independently of God.  Satan will, for certain, provide fascinating diversions to keep a person from experiencing intimacy with Christ internally.  As for the unsaved – the enemy will keep them distracted from reaching out to a Savior, Jesus Christ.  We must take up Jesus’ example and look to the Father for everything.  The “lastly, calling on God” should be the first thing we do, but our flesh finds great comfort in leaving God in last place – a Satanic ploy. 

It is imperative that we learn the power of allowing the indwelling Life of Christ to do the doing. If you are like me, this is not an easy task. We who love fixing things end up being the one who needs to be fixed. Allow me to share some words from my mentor:

Stop fixing the things God has fixed on you. If you continue to do the fixing, God will put upon you a fix that only He can fix. It’s your choice.

THE INDWELLING LIFE DOING THE DOING

The diagram above illustrates that an indwelt Christian’s fulfillment is based internally on the very life of Christ – who lives in the believer. The fruit of the Spirit has completely surrounded all elements of life.  As the Lord rules from within, every aspect of life is an outlet for the world to see the Life of Christ being released through the believer into the external.  “Doing to be” has been replaced by “BEING in Christ.”  Now, this believer is a human “being” (resting in Christ) and not a human “doing” (trying to please Christ, self, or others). “Being” is resting in God and precedes doing.

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Many put the emphasis on “I can do all things” and forget or neglect the “through Him.”  The key to the victorious, indwelling Christian life is through Christ.  As the believer abides, Christ produces the “doing,” which is the fruit of the Spirit.  Once this happens, the focus will become “giving” instead of “getting.”  This, in turn, will accomplish Christ’s goal of equipping the Saints for the work of service (Eph. 4:12) – resulting in Christ ruling on the inside and the believer living in victory, even while experiencing negative in the external area of life.

NEXT: Why All the Problems?