What's On Our Spiritual "To Be" List Today?

What’s on our to-do list today? Cleaning out an overstuffed closet? Making a financial budget to determine what areas we are over spending? Paying our monthly bills? We all have things we need to get done today, whether we’ve written them down or not.

While a to-do list is valuable, another type of list is even more valuable — a spiritual “to be” list. Albert Einstein once said:

“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value” (source).

The inspired apostle Paul also encourages us to be more concerned with our character than with any worldly success. He tells us that if we’re guided by the teachings of the Spirit, God will produce in us the characteristics of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galations 5:22-23).

As we look at these character traits, which ones are we needing most in our life? Do we need more patience with a co-worker or a child? Do we need a little more gentleness and kindness toward a member of the church? Let’s remember that as we draw nearer to God, He will enable us to be the person He wants us to be.

In prioritizing our spiritual to-do list today, we could write these words: “Spend time praying and reading God’s Word” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15). That would be a good start in helping us with our “to be” list.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets