It's commonly believed that the last 3 years of Jesus's life was spent in a ministry that officially began when he was baptized by John in the River Jordan.

At this event, a voice from heaven was heard, presumably God's voice, to give God's first instructions to his son.

And what's interesting is that these first instructions were not to do anything, to heal, feed, preach, or protest.

God's very first instruction to Jesus was to be - to be loved, 'This is my son, my beloved ' declared the heavens.

You and I were not created primarily to DO anything - but to first to BE an object of God's love.

Think of your dog who hops up on the couch and curls up as your heart melts in adoration of your family friend, who need not fetch, perform, or otherwise exhibit perfect obedience to score your love. You just love that doggy for being a doggy.

So this is where we get it wrong: we buy into the worldly reasoning that we are primarily here to do, do, do - to talk, to act, to build, to make, and to serve, in order to fulfill God's mission, to do God's will - that's where we get our worth, value, and reason to be loved.

The problem is that we can believe that the more we do for God, the more we're loved by God - that the priest in the collar, the donor with his name on the hospital ward, the holy man who's renounced riches and now prays 5 times a day - is somehow closer to the God, favored by God, loved by God.

But the more we own our belovedness, our total, unconditional acceptance by God, the more secure, calm and focused we can then be on what we need to do.

We can go ahead and take risks, be flamboyantly generous, be courageously forgiving, unafraid to stand up for what's right and stand down to what's wrong.

Like Jesus, the more we own our security in God, that our beginning, middle, and end are marked with God's unequivocal, love and acceptance, the more we can take risks, enjoy life, and live for others, which is the ultimate fulfillment of the human experience.

Yes, go ahead and do, but first, be!