this is excellent content. when this stuff is presented as the thoughts of a very thoughtful person i get so much more out of them than when they are presented as coming from the lips of a member of the triune Creator. i really look forward to future posts. thanks for sharing.

This was a good post, it really articulated some of the things that are going on in my heart. It’s kind of odd just how big Father is becoming in my life, and I don’t really even know how it is happening. Sort of like the wind I guess… =) Thanks Willie for sharing your heart.

Thanks this content is timely for me. I can tell that the idea of identity found in doing still has it claws in me; I have been feeling a bit ‘worthless’ at work since the project I was on has finished and no other projects have picked me up yet. You would think that I would have learned my lession by now; I have tried all the various hues of ‘doing’ in order to have significance. I’ve tried ‘thinking’, which is all about proper knowledge of ‘truth’ and you get to express it though ‘teaching’. I’ve tried ‘feeling’, you know having the right worship ‘experience’. And I’ve tried ‘working’ (thought about using ‘acting’ but that carries the wrong idea) where certain activities tend to carry more weight like being missional or feeding the poor. If significance comes from being that it truly is a different universe. Every person, rich or poor, that crosses my path would be significant; in fact it would tend to erase those categories all together. Sigh, may Papa free me the grip of these claws.

ugh, typo’s….where’s the edit button

Amen!

Everything matters because just existing matters. Breathing matters because it means we have life, and God created us for relationship with Him–He just wants to love us and have us know, love, and trust Him. That happens every moment of every day. Therefore, every moment of every day is significant, whatever we are doing, because it is another moment for Him to love us and for us to bask in that love and love Him back.

Blessings, Paul.

A woman who has worked with unwed mothers for 25 years said the other day (in front of 700 church folks) that she was not ‘pro-life’, but rather pro-value…meaning everything and everyone has value - not just the unborn baby. Amen. I’ve struggled for 46 years acting like a human ‘doing’ instead of a human ‘being’, 22 of those years as a Christian. Now I’m back at square one learning all over again about God’s unconditional love. Unless the foundation is Love, it will fall.

If everything didn’t matter there wouldn’t be any Holy Scriptures. When One begins to truely understand Gods Word every thing matters more than it ever did and how precious it is to have a real relationship with Jesus, When we realize we can know Him and that His Holy Spirit is always with Us teaching Us the way of Truth, How Wonderfull it is to have your Heart know and experience a moment with the Holy Spirit speaking into your Heart, and thats only the beginning, it gets sweeter every day, with our Beloved Jesus I want to Live for Him more and more, to know Him is to be hopelessly in Love with the King, Yes Everything Matters everything we say and do, and when we begin to guard our thoughts we will guard our Hearts.

We get so absorbed in “doing” Christianity, when all God wants is for us to just “be” in His presence and love. This book has melted away almost every preconceived religous mold I had ever been taught, or tried myself to fit God and the Trinity into. I love it, but at the same time it’s like having to learn to walk all over again, and to the beat of a very different (and so much better) Drum. It’s not about understanding the “deep theologies” of churchianity, but about understanding how truly simple life is when we are in the middle of Papa’s love. Hmmm…Now if I could take it from my head and put it in my heart….OH! WAIT! That’s Sarayu’s job.

Finding a Really Good Crew of People Cleaning Up Your House…

It’s not always easy to keep a house in tip top shape, and spotlessly clean all the time. In fact, it’s downright difficult to do this, and many people just tend to give up in despair or settle for the once monthly or annual spring cleaning effort th…

Thank you Willie
For beautifully showing a truth that took Paul two
whole chapters in Romans to explain. From “oh wretched man
I am ….to There is no condemnation to them IN Christ Jesus.”
Romans Seven was his performance base trying to gain his significants performing the rirtualistic Christian life by self effort. But what a declaration in Romans eight That it is not him at all but the Significant Other who he realized he was IN .So there is therefore no condemnation to them In Him. Our faith ,in our significant standing ,is the doorway of trusting not trying of resting not resisting of Living every activities in Joy and freedom .

I absolutely love this post. I echo everyone else’s thoughts and just wanted to also say thank you for writing such a wonderfully life-changing book.

I just finished the book, and with dried tear tracks still showing on my face, found the site and this blog. Thank you for giving us permission to use quotes on this blog…this post alone is SO profound! This is the best way I can think to explain it:
You know how on emails and websites people come up with “cute” or “profound” little sayings as tags after their signature? Well, I NEVER, until this book and this post, could find anything that even came close to expressing something important enough for me to “tag” after my own signature…besides, some of them are too “cutesy” for me. But now! “Significance has never been about behavior.” That is THE most wondrous, freeing thing I have (re)heard in AGES! Thank you Papa - and Willie!

I feel like this is a huge shift in thinking. It’s not something that comes easily. I still feel like I have to earn my place and even though I know with my head that isn’t true, I feel like I have to earn God’s love. I struggle with my identity in God and what I in him. He paid such a dear price to reunite us with him and yet I continue to make such awful mistakes in my life. I feel at cross purposes with myself and what he would have for me. Does this make any sense to anyone? This book has given me a lot to think about.

I can so relate to your comment of getting the concept of knowing something in our heads and the desire for it to move to our hearts………yes, that is Sarayus’ job.
I have known that journey from the head to the heart in the past, and experienced the work of spirit. It has been a long time since I’ve heard from Sarayu.

All of this talk about our value and worth based on our “doing” and how well we “do” in relation to thers has been at the heart of so many of the problems the world faces today. Our thinking that we as individuals are not “worthy” unless we are “out performing” everyone else is so pervasive that I do not think Western Civilization can ever move away from it. Does that mean that we can not still achieve and perform and move forward? No. It just means that we do those things as a way of “being” as God wants us to “be”.

Oh Paul,if only everyone could come to the realization that 1)this lie exists, and 2)if bought into, it effects every thought we have about ourselves and others. I’ve worked with special needs kids for the last 25 years and have seen the huge damage that is done by this lie in life after life.

Those of my kids who are aware enough of the world around them to “measure” themselves against the lie see themselves as damaged, as broken, as incapable, and as worthless. These children are of “normal” intelligence and, in many ways, excell at things outside the realm of school but still see themselves as not being able to “do anything right”. It absolutely breaks my heart each time one of these wonderful, unique kids sees themselves as fatally flawed as a result of not being able to “do” something expected of them.

And this lie of worth by performance perpetuated, in most cases, by those closest to the child - parents, grandparents, teachers, peers - sets into the very fibers of their being. My High School students have such difficulty seeing themselves as valuable that I often feel like a small wave lapping at the bottom of a very large granite cliff. My every affirmation of their “ability” wears ever so slowly against the hundred of affirmations of their “inability”. Every comment I make regarding their uniqueness and infinite worth is met with the skepticism and cynicism born of stuble, and not so subtle, dismissals as broken. In the rare case I have broken through and been able to help a child see their gifts, their uniqueness, their value, but the task is daunting. All because mankind has bought into this lie.

A lie that is horizontal rather than vertical. Its so much easier for us to be “human doings” than it is to be “human beings”. Its so much easier to compare ourselves with others as a way of relating to others; and not just to others but to our own insecurities. So much easier than seeing as Papa sees….that indescribable variation that is uniquely ours. The performance lie “allows” us to dismiss others rather than take the time to really see others. The lie convinces us that there are individuals that are beneath our notice, that we are somehow more worthy of the “good” things in life than those we deem to be “not up to standard”, and thereby, allows us to ignore those situations or conditions that would break our hearts and stir us to action if we took the time to truly look at them.

So many of my severely involved students, those considered by the world to be the most damaged and the most worthly because of their inabilities, are more free than any of those of us who are “normal” or “capable”. They’re more free because they’re content with themselves. Somehow they retain that sense of themselves as unique and valuable we all have as young children. And yet, in a world where the spector of euthaniasia is never far away, they….the ones most free…..are the ones who would be “destroyed” for the “good of the society”.

UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY.
i WAS THERE WITH MACK AND THE GODHEAD. THEY TAUGHT ME WHAT THE THRE IN ONE WERE TEACHING MACK. THE SHACK WAS HIS AMEN TO MY SPIRIT. .

FATHER HAS DRAWN US INTO A FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM THAT IS UNIQUE. THIS MESSAGE IS ANOINTED. THE QUICKENING THAT IS PRESENT AT THE SHACK IS FATHER’S BLESSING AND PROVISIO.

If you are/were not valued, you tend to not value. Jesus, open our eyes to see the deep significant value each and every creation made in your image fundamentally has… because they are. No other reason. They are. You made them. They have incredible value. And its a daily battle to remember that. A monumental task from one that feels of no value.
I heard you speak last night Paul. And I wanted to ask you how long before you realized who you were. When did you know who you were? How much healing had to take place? My belief is that if you had no ties with parents, and experienced abuse and neglect at their hands and hated them as a child… you don’t know who you are. You honestly don’t know! We are full of holes and imperfections… God, heal me. I don’t know how, but do. And let me know who I am.BTW: Amazing picture of God in The Shack. Thank you.

I am a victim of abuse and that makes it hard to believe in a loving father. What God does for all of us is that he loves us without conditions and that is clearly pointed at in The Shack. We cannot blame God for the evils in this world, however we can thank Him for all the good that comes from all things in this world, be it good or bad circumstances. I hope and pray that all of us can feel that love from God and that we can offer that love back to those that need it.

I have rad and contemplated your book and will deliberately read a few more times. I am anxious to see how long it before someone catches on that it could be the basis for all “christian” counseling, It is very possible to change the thinking of a generation, I believe you beat me to the bunch. I too am an aspiring author and have many of the same philosopies as you portray in you book. I however had the inconvenience of having a militant authoritarian father who insisted, I would be nothing but a janitior, he was a world renowned physician. Hard shoes to fill indeed. I am proud of you for having seen past all that would keep us from sharing our story, I would hope that in reading your book a little of that rubs off on me. If you would be so kind as to keep me in your prayers. I will try to do the same. It seems that I am caught in a catch .22, I cannot write abook that portrays success until I have experienced it myself, it would seem to me to be a lie, I supose thats why they call it fiction. Again thank you again for a lovely and wonderful book. I am inspired, now I need only have faith, more faith. Seems my boots are underwater.

sorry bout the typos fat fingers and laptop need I say more…

I just finished the book. Wow! I wanted to read all at once, but had to pace myself to absorb it all! I feel like it was written to me! Not that I’ve had suffering to those depths, but I have had my own set of circumstances and suffering. I’ve heard so often that with your suffering you receive a gift or blessing. Yes I believe that. But this book makes it all so real to me! I was a child who grew up without a father. It had never occurred to me that I couldn’t believe God’s love was as deep and unconditional as it is. I guess I couldn’t believe God loved me as much as lets say, Mother Teresa. I guess I’m one of those people who wanders around wondering, “Am I important to God?” Well thank you for writing this book. I agree with the person above I believe it is a book to use for counseling. I have 2 people I’m lending the book to and then I will read it again. Thank you, thank you!

Yes - and see C. S. Lewis’ essay “The Weight of Glory” for more on the same topic.

If we are but temporary matter does anything matter? FPW

Truly understanding what Paul is saying through this story, that everyone matters…..is simple yet made very complicated by many in the religious worlds.
Jesus came to save ALL….not just certain denominations, or those that have believed all their lives, but everyone that believes Jesus came to save us ALL, even if in the last breathes of our life, like the sinner on the cross, we confess we believe, we are saved.
Thanks Paul