The verb “be” is the most important verb in any language. It is almost always the first verb that we learn. All that study language recall the joy of conjugation. We all are challenged when we have to learn the proper conjugation of verbs and their placement in sentences.
Just as a reminder, in English a partial conjugation of the verb “be” is:
| Present | Perfect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Past | Pluperfect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Future | Future perfect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I am amazed at how many of us in today’s world do not understand or use verbs properly. Ironically the verb “be” is one of the most frequently misused. E.g. I bees your friend… I is been… I been there…
When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush we were given the most fundamental piece of information about His nature. When Moses asked, “Who should I say the You are?” God answered, “I Am that I Am” (Exodus 3:14) If we take the literal meaning of what is recorded “I Am” would simply say that God is “all”. Moses had to use the answer to deal with the most important challenge of his time, that of competing gods and a lack of acceptance of a single God. Even today we spend a tremendous amount of energy understanding the dynamics of Moses’ problem and ultimately loose site of the “I Am “ answer.
In the context of “I Am” God is not a part of the universe; instead, the universe is a manifestation of being; albeit “I Am that I Am”. Most of us are comfortable with defining God as infinite even though none of us are able to define exactly what that terms means. Science is still struggling with the concepts supporting the “Big Bang Theory”, the edge of the universe, dark matter, what existed before the Big Bang, concepts of time, questions of time being real and propositions that time may be an illusion, etc.
As infinity is not measurable in time, the only verb tense that can apply in the context of an infinite God is the present.
Our past is not undoable thus is our history. I have heard it said that the Bible is a record of the history of God’s revelation of himself to man. Our future is dependent on what we do in the present. Yes, we do live in the moment of now. Therefore “I Am” is God, You are God, She is God, We are God, They are God.
Jesus taught us that God’s Grace forgives the past but demands proper action in the present. The present is our only power. Jesus demonstrated the criteria for dealing with the “present”. Love, humility, acceptance, forgiveness, trust ,….. The lessons are so simple that almost no one understands them.
Remember what is recorded as some of the last words spoken by Jesus from the Cross: “Father forgive them because they do not know what they do……”. Luke 23:24. Interesting that the verse accounts for what Jesus said and then goes on to tell what the people did. Those at the foot of the very cross on the day that Jesus was crucified missed the message.
Jesus’ statement acknowledged that he understood that we (humanity) did not get it. The statement applied to all of mankind not just those at his feet who were gambling for his clothes. Then and now we are incapable of fully understanding our place in God’s infinity and/or the importance of the present.
My prayer is that the “NOW” in which I write this and the “NOW” in which you read this are a proper use of the present. We exist in a thin instantaneous place called NOW. The use of our future “NOWS” is our individual responsibility. The impact made and results achieved from our actions are always a function of the criteria used in making decisions. The fact is that making decisions is unavoidable and decisions always precede action. Deciding to do nothing is still a decision!
The key is the CRITERIA USED!
God, help us all, THANK YOU JESUS!
Thoughts of: David Mims Sr. 10 Feb 2012
