Musing – Are You Being a Christ Follower; or Becoming a Follower?

Hebraic Musing – Are You Being a Christ Follower; or Becoming a Follower?

Acts 17:28 does say “…in him we live and move and have our being.” and I cannot say that without singing the familiar refrain.  But according to Paul’s message we should be becoming rather than simply being.   Paul wanted us to grow and become like him in his plea in Acts 26:29  "Short time or long — I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."  

Paul challenged himself as he served as an example to us when he said in Phil 3:10-11   “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  NIV

The word become appears 398 X in the NIV.  Are we charged with action rather than existence?  Admittedly, the word become is frequently used as admonition to not become a sinner by adopting sinful ways.  Romans1:29-32 describes the deep sinners that men become when left to their own devices.  “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”  

What are we called to become?  “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…”   Phil 2:14-15    

Being does not require action; becoming does require action. Many will say we are to Know, Love and Serve the Lord.  My favorite rephrase of that statement is –  

“To Know Him is to Love Him; and to love Him is to Serve Him. 
And if you are not serving Him it is because you do not love Him,
    and if you do not love Him you do not know Him.” 

This phrasing stresses that knowing and loving are static attitudes or conditions; but serving requires action.   Being is static, but becoming requires action.

Maybe instead of calling ourselves “human beings” we need to acknowledge that we are “humans becoming”.  And that can be either good news or bad news depending on who we are becoming… whether we are following Him as Lord of our lives, or if we are following our old sinful nature?

Points to ponder

Can we be a Christ-follower without becoming a Christ-follower?

“Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." John 12:36

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                     April 11, 2017

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage” “Musings - A Victorious Life”  “Musings - The Torah and New Testament”
Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      www.InsightsByYosef.com