Why We Ignore the Inner Life
So much of life is focused on doing – so little on who we’re becoming. We focus on the outer person when the spiritual life focuses on the inner person. Christians tend to focus on the outer person and what we do, forgetting that what we do comes from who we are – and who we are comes from who we’re becoming. Yet, who we’re becoming is the last part we focus on. Why do we pay so little attention to who we’re becoming?
One reason is the doing part is easier to focus on. There is something measurable when we do something. We need to feel as though our time is being well spent and productive. When we focus on the physicality of doing something we can measure what we’ve done. We feel a sense of accomplishment. In essence, we have control over the process by which things get done, not to mention we derive a sense of worth from the finished product.
Not so when focusing on who we’re becoming. Yes, it takes some effort, but it is effort combined with the mysterious work of God and his grace. God’s timetable is different and there is no finished product. It’s a direction, or as Eugene Peterson aptly describes it, a long obedience in the same direction. We have no control over this process. The only thing we control is whether or not we’ll say yes to participation. Unlike having the ability to manipulate the speed we can accomplish the things we set out to do the only choice we have as we open ourself up to being is that of submission.
And no one wants to submit. Neither do we like not seeing an immediate return for the time we invest. Who wants to sit and listen when they may not hear? Who wants to sit silently in solitude when it is seemingly so unproductive? Who wants to reflect on their thoughts, actions, and days when they will not like what they see? But these are some of the things we do to focus on our being, and these are some practices that shape our becoming.
What we do comes out of who we’re becoming, and it would do good to take time and reflect on the things we do to notice who we’re becoming.