The Beatles

I’ve been dry the past week and haven’t had an idea to write about. The light bulb flickered on when I was talking with my friend John from England. Yes I’m cool now; I have a friend from England. I have arrived.

Anyways.

After talking about the Beatles for an hour or so, I asked him about his life story. He talked about his life, and how he found God. He explained how his first few years of being “Christian,” were wrought with trying and doing the “Christian things.” after a few years, he realized that he doesn’t really have to “do” anything; rather all God wants him to do is be. Doing means that we have a part; being is essentially not on our part, but it’s all in and through Jesus.

“For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live. It is not I who lives, but Christ living within me.”

So Jesus is the living part in us, the “do-er.” We are the “be-er.” Not beer.

He talked about how his first few years of “doing” were filled with trying to get higher and closer to God. Going through a checklist of “Christian things” to be better in God’s eyes. This is what he told me:

“How can you climb a mountain when you're already at the top of it? We spend our whole life trying to attain the top.

[After realizing he’s already at the top] ‘I've been up here all the time?? I've spent my whole time trying to get here, and I've been here the whole time?’

You don't have to try and be holy and righteous. Christ is living in you, you already are.”

I thought this was pretty epic, and profoundly true. When Christ is living in us, God sees perfection, righteousness, and his beloved child. How much better can we get? I’ll just tell you…I don’t think we can get any higher on the mountain.

So if we can’t get higher on the mountain, then why keep trying?

Read that again.

One more time. (Really. Reread it.)

Living the life of faith has just gotten a whole lot easier. I think this is how Jesus lived. He said that his yolk is light. I think we can learn something from this Jesus guy… if we lived like he lived, our yolk should be light too.

I was sitting on the beach this afternoon looking for answers to questions I hadn’t come up with yet. I thought about looking for God and answers in the bible, but that didn’t sound appealing. I decided to just sit. And wait. And rest. And listen. It hit me that God isn’t only found in the bible. All I had to do was raise my bowed head and look at the beach and the ocean.

For a second, I looked at the horizon of the water. I couldn’t muster up a word to describe the magnitude of this huge expanse of water. I began thinking, “God loves me deeper and bigger and more endless than this huge thing.” God was already with me; I didn’t have to go searching for answers…they were right in front of me. After sitting still, He impressed this on me:

“Stop trying to get where God wants you to be. You’re already there. Just be.”

To save from being redundant, I’ll move on to another thing I’ve been thinking about.


I’ve also been thinking about the idea of being Abba’s child; trying to grasp it for myself on my own terms. I know in my mind that our identity lies in being God’s child, but I’ve been searching to know it in my heart and have it change my life. I read 1 John 2:28-3:1 and it is cool.

“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. [here’s the super cool part] See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

Did you catch the last sentence? “…and so we are.” That is the plural form of the verb “to be.” I am, we are, etc… If I could have a big arrow labeled “EPIC” I would insert it after that sentence.

Even while writing this blog… I’m realizing the importance of being instead of doing.

Abide in him; run to him and let him hold you. He sees you as his own son; there is no need to feel shameful or guilty for your past or present situation. We all struggle, but God sees righteousness and not a sinner when he looks at us. I don’t doubt you can know it in your head, but strive to know it in your heart.


I’ve been thinking about love a lot lately; in the way that Jesus talks about it. More in 1 John 4…

“for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
“We love because he first loved us.”

Love isn’t the most natural thing for me. Judging is easier than loving to me, sadly. My wonderful sister is the opposite. She sees someone and loves them. It’s quite beautiful. I like watching. One day I thought, “hey wait. I can do that too!” Moving away from her this summer made me a bit anxious, and I didn’t think I’d have anyone to encourage me to love like Jesus did. Well God brought someone in the picture... like an inspiration to love more fully. I’m excited. God is revealing his love more to me, and how to give it more. I want to love like a dog.

In the movie “Up,” there’s this golden retriever that is soooooo cute. He runs up to this old guy, jumps up on him and says, “Hi, I’m Dug (like Doug), and I LOVE YOU!” I laughed so hard because that’s exactly what my golden is like. Dogs (at least goldens) don’t discriminate between people; they don’t care if you’ve failed, nor if you’ve succeeded. They just love, with no strings attached.

I think I’m done. Props if you’ve read this whole thing without skimming it. I wouldn’t have the patience to do so ☺

Peace and love.