Being is Better than Doing

You are a doer. I know it to be true, because every week you and I consider together how to be “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17). This is a high compliment of you, because it means you take seriously God’s command to be a doer and not just a hearer of His Word (Jam. 1:22-25). You want to do, and that is an appropriate and righteous response to God’s call on your life!

That “doing” comes to mind as we consider the last of four ways our foundational passage (2 Tim. 3:16-17) tells us scripture enables us to be thoroughly equipped for that doing—through “training in righteousness.”

Up until this point, we have considered instructions of teaching, rebuking, and correcting, all of which are rooted primarily in a theme of coming into alignment with God’s character and instructions. Each instruction contains a wealth of wisdom and will involve a lifetime of yielding to it.

But this final purpose for scripture—that of being trained in righteousness—is of a slightly different mold. It is far more about being than doing. It is about who you are becoming more than it is about what you are producing.

You’ve very likely heard the expression: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” It is from the Westminster Catechism, but it is really just a tight articulation of the beautiful invitation that all of scripture is presenting you. The declarations of your chief purpose are all throughout scripture, but here are just a few of my favorite:

- “[E]veryone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made . . . the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise” (Is. 43:7, 21).

- “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

- “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom 11:36).

God has sent you his Word that you might do. The very last words of Jesus before He ascended to heaven were doing words. You are His Ambassador here on Earth and He has told you to “go” and “do” (Matt. 28:16; Matt. 7:24).

But my friend, God wants to train you in righteousness, because being is even more important than doing. God has given you assignments, but those are outflows of the primary and greater purpose He has for you, which is simply becoming more like Him in order that you might bring Him glory and enjoy Him forever.

Your pursuit to be thoroughly equipped for every good work is a noble one. But it is not your chief end. In fact, it is but a natural outcropping of your primary purpose, which is to abide in Christ, to grow in your likeness of Him, to bring Him glorify, and to spend eternity enjoying Him.

It is intensely liberating if you will allow it to take root in your spirit. God will assign you holy work, yes, but He sends His scripture primarily to train you in righteousness that you might bring Him glory and enjoy Him forever.

Being is even better than doing.