{"id":1089,"date":"2017-11-05T07:09:17","date_gmt":"2017-11-05T15:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2017-11-05T03:36:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-05T11:36:59","slug":"act-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/05\/act-like-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Act Like It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/theres-only-grace\/inbaby-hand3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?fit=135%2C135&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"135,135\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"inbaby-hand3\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?fit=135%2C135&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=135%2C135\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"135\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-29\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A number of years ago I read a book entitled <em>God is a Verb<\/em>.  Written from the perspective of Jewish mysticism, it presented several insights that have no immediate bearing with this writing except for the title, God is action.  A verb is something being done, activity not accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod is love\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that He represents what love is, like a glass represents a container of water.  Love is a verb, an action of God\u2019s character and nature.  God\u2019s activities, his involvement in and around our lives is best understood as the performance of love.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod is righteous\u201d does not signify a moral superiority, it is an event of accomplishment declaring acceptance with everything in His kingdom.  All of us became \u201crighteous\u201d in the actions undertaken by God in Jesus, the Christ event in humanity.  Anything we attempted, and continue to attempt, to mimic the righteousness we see in God, is a filthy imitation, a fabrication sorely lacking in quality and substance. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod is just\u201d isn\u2019t a position of judgement but a movement towards reconciliation, from estrangement to sonship.  Justice is not punishment but reparation towards responsibility abandoned. <\/p>\n<p>We are encouraged in the book of Ephesians to imitate God, to act like him just as little children pretend to be like their parents.  Someone once said that God\u2019s attitudes are His actions.  Do our attitudes resemble the actions of the one we imitate?  Are we so settled in our accomplishments that we respond from the shallow tide pools of self-reflection or have we embraced the vast sea of humanity in its variegated composition and determined to advance into the fullness of who we have always been?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, God\u2019s ways are higher than ours simply because humanity has lived far too below our original design.  We have accepted a state of existence which laughs at any notion we can do the greater works.  However, doing, a verb, comes from being, not pretending.  <\/p>\n<p>An act of God has been pronounced, is poised over and upon your entire life.  It\u2019s time to put on the new you and act like it.  Life is about what you\u2019re doing, not what you\u2019ve done.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A number of years ago I read a book entitled God is a Verb. Written from the perspective of Jewish mysticism, it presented several insights that have no immediate bearing with this writing except for the title, God is action. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/05\/act-like-it\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4,6,5],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10","tag-grace","tag-mike-hillebrecht","tag-teaching"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ITDy-hz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2519,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/transcending-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":0},"title":"Transcending \u201cIs\u201d","author":"mike","date":"August 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"We are creatures of action. Our language makes every effort to capture this action through words which in the English vernacular are called \u201cverbs.\u201d Sometimes when an action is not present, we use a verb to demonstrate a difference between action and inaction. Consider the statement, \u201cBob is sleeping.\u201d The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2022 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2022 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2022\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":374,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/07\/being-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":1},"title":"Being Grace","author":"mike","date":"July 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10 You are a steward of God's grace. Did you realize this? This isn't something that will someday happen to you. It is going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2016 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2016 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2016\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2743,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/08\/is-grace-truly-a-gift\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":2},"title":"Is Grace Truly a Gift?","author":"mike","date":"August 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Isa 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Have you ever considered why grace is needed? Probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2023 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2023 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2023\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1161,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2017\/12\/20\/the-gift-that-confounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":3},"title":"The Gift That Confounds","author":"mike","date":"December 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Rectify - to correct a matter which only you can solve. Rom 3:20-24 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be rectified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (21) But now the rectification of God without the law is manifested,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2017 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2017 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2017\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2410,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/the-tumult-of-ineffective-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":4},"title":"The Tumult of Ineffective Prayer","author":"mike","date":"December 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s face it \u2013 life these days, (I\u2019ll be gentile in this even though we all have stronger expressions which better portray the issue) is pretty messed up. No matter where you look, the Church is cowering in a dank corner faced with the limp wristed expression of freedom granted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2020 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2020 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":982,"url":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/10\/how-glorious-is-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":1089,"position":5},"title":"How Glorious is Grace","author":"mike","date":"August 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently a group of us were reading through Brad Jersak\u2019s book A More Christ-like God and we came upon a passage that incited an intense paradigm shift for many of us. The exact passage from the book fails me at the moment, however, the results from the dialogue still lingers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;2017 Postings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"2017 Postings","link":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2017\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1092,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions\/1092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}