Dear Sons,
You have probably already been asked this question and will likely be asked it more often in the near future: "What are you going to be?" When most people ask this to children or young men, they have in mind a "career" or "profession." What they really mean is "what kind of job or career will you have?"
There is a great difference in considering what you are going to "DO" and what you are going to "BE"! When the bible speaks about"doing" it says: "Whatever your hands find to "do", "do" it with all your might as working unto the Lord." It also says "Whatever you "do" in word or deed, "do" it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
As you can see, God gives great liberty in the matter of what you "DO" - because He leaves that choice up to you by the word "whatever". However, in the matter of what you are to "BE", He has already decided this for you and has made His will in this matter very specific. In "whatever" you "DO", you are to "BE" like His Son Jesus!
There is great diversity in what people may "DO" but He has only "ONE" standard for what people are to "BE"! This is the real difference God is looking for in men and women. He is not nearly as concerned about what they "DO" but cares a great deal about what they "ARE" (ARE is another form of the word BE).
When the bible speaks about the day of judgment it indicates that men are going to be judged according to what they have "Done". This causes many people to focus upon good "WORKS" because they think "If I DO good, God will count me as good and let me into heaven." They don't realize that the bible says "No one can "BE" good, not even one." What prevents men from "BE"ing good is sin. Sin effects who we ARE and corrupts everything we "BE"come. Only the salvation God offers through faith in Christ Jesus can change who men "ARE" by effecting what they "BEcome"!
When we hear the gospel, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are enabled to receive the Holy Spirit, who is the very presence of Jesus. Only when the Holy Spirit dwells in us can we "BE" what God desires for all men to "BE"! When He created men in the BEginning, He said "Let us make men in OUR image, and OUR likeness." The Holy Spirit dwelling in us can restore us into the image of God that He created all men to BEcome. The primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is to cleanse us from the effects of sin's dwelling within us and renew us into the full knowledge of the image of our creator - so that we can "BE" like Jesus.
I love all of you very much - and my concerns for you are not so much about whatever you might "DO" but rather who you will "BE"!
Dad
Above picture was taken of the boys when we were building Daniel's "to be" home.
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