How You Doing?

I remember a friend telling me, “Billy, the next time someone walks by me and asks ‘How you doing?’ I am going to stop them and give them my life story. I will let them know just how I am doing and thank them for actually caring.” At the time, I laughed. Obviously, the phrase “How you doing?” is meant as a non-empathetic greeting without any expectation of a lengthy response.

In your walk of faith, what if God asked, “How you doing?” Probably, and since it is God, you might believe that the question is empathetically charged. But, what would you first think? Maybe God is asking about my physical and mental health. How many of us would first think God is asking about our service to a cause; God’s cause?

Steven J. Cole, a pastor at Lake Gregory Community Church in Crestline, California, writes, “The fact is, God does not save us so we can sit, but so we can serve.” Tim Williams, a retired U.S. Air Force Officer and an author at the blog Blue to the Blind, and in his article Eternal Security, asks what personal works actually identify you as a Christian. He writes, “ In fact, Christians were created for good works! So, if you are a Christian, you should be able to look at the fruit your life is producing and see that it is good.”

Possibly, you understand what you should be doing but feel inadequate to the task.

Moses, in response to God’s declaration that Moses must go to Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, provided four objections as to why he wasn’t the man for the job (Exodus 3, 4). God answered Moses’ objections. God’s answer explained to Moses that this task was not about Moses. It was about who would be with Moses—the great I Am would be with Moses (Exodus 4:11-12).

Can you and I, called by God to a saving grace, expect the great I Am to be with us? The answer is “Most definitely!” Thus, how should we answer God if asked: “How you doing?”