May 29, 2007
If Anything Matters…Everything Matters!
"If anything matters… everything matters" - comes from the conversation in The Shack in which Mack is wondering (as he anticipates his return to ‘real’ life), if what he does in his day-to-day experience even truly matters (has any significance). I think there are a lot of us who wonder that, especially in a world that reduces individuals to numbers and statistics. What is significant about the daily routine of getting up, going to work, cleaning the house, making meals, doing laundry, changing diapers etc.? In addition, there is such a drive for performance, especially in religious circles, but also in the culture at large, that the question easily morphs a little into, "Does what I do matter enough (to God, to others, to the expectations of others etc.)?" Like any legalism, the answer is inevitably ‘no’, failure is just around the corner.
In my opinion, one of the most fundamental lies resides at the core of this issue, and that is, "Significance is related to Doing (Performance)". In the world, ‘respect’ is linked to significance and significance is linked to performance. Furthermore, rewards and punishments are linked to performance and the world is a competitive place where people use any means to fight for their piece of the pie of significance and attending rewards. This ‘lie’ is a monstrous controlling power whose influence seeps into virtually every relationship and activity. If we can get to the core of this issue in our lives as human beings, I think we would find that most of us believe that this ‘lie’ is the truth, and in fact ‘want’ it to be true. Most people cannot imagine an existence where this ‘lie’ was not a dominating and controlling factor of life. It is almost as if this were not true, people would live uncontrollable lives and chaos would ensue; so it is better to embrace the lie than take the risks involved in any sort of movement toward freedom.
The truth is this: "Significance originates from ‘being’, not from doing." Doing adds nothing to our significance and doing takes nothing away. Doing is directly related, not to significance, but is largely an expression of who we think we are. "As a person thinks in their heart, so are they (so they will act)." Because we are already significant, our choices and actions matter. It is not the choices that make us significant, it is our significance that make our choices meaningful. Every human being is significant by nature. They are imprinted with the very image of God, they are each the center of God’s love and goodness. True significance is individually wrapped up in the uniqueness of each person and each one being created in the image of God, regardless of what Madison Ave says, or how an individual may be damaged or broken.
There is a HUGE difference in living from the truth or from the lie; between seeing every activity as an expression of significance (the truth) or to live in the lie and try to ’suck’ out of every activity some transitory sense of significance. It is easy to see that the latter is totally an ethic of performance. As a result of the truth, the activity that each of us is involved in has significance; what we do ‘matters’ regardless of what it is.
God is not significant because of what God ‘does’, but because of who God ‘is’. God does not get more significant by activity, but because God is significant, what God does ‘matters’. We are made in this same image. We are so significant that even each hair of our heads is important to God.
To take this one step further…because we are each significant and what we do ‘matters’, we can each through our significance indwelt by the ‘Significant One’ change the universe by the way we love and see and hear and listen and speak etc. ‘Doing’ is simply walking in the present tense relationship with God that we are growing in, facing whatever it is that is in front of us today, and making choices or responding or being still or…
Jesus spent 30 years ‘doing’ nothing (as the world would understand it), but the first thing we hear about him out of his Father’s mouth is how pleased Father is of His boy. Did Jesus become significant because of the next three years? Nope. He was already significant.
To begin to think this way is no small change…it is the movement from one universe to another
14 Comments on If Anything Matters…Everything Matters! »
May 29, 2007
rob horton @ 7:07 pm:
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.
Rick Creech @ 7:20 pm:
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.
May 30, 2007
Rick Gibson @ 12:02 pm:
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.
Rick Gibson @ 12:45 pm:
ugh, typo’s….where’s the edit button
June 3, 2007
Tripp Campbell @ 6:36 pm:
Amen!
January 10, 2008
William @ 10:01 am:
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.
January 22, 2008
Kathy Stevenson @ 11:08 am:
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.
J.R.Evans @ 3:25 pm:
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.
February 9, 2008
Tarah @ 10:02 am:
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.
February 23, 2008
House Cleaning And Laundry @ 12:25 pm (Trackback)
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…
March 7, 2008
Perry Hampton @ 6:14 am:
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 .
April 14, 2008
Pam Parish @ 9:51 am:
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.
May 26, 2008
Chris Laffranchi @ 4:39 pm:
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!
September 1, 2008
Heather Partanen @ 9:23 pm:
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.