Hamlet's Big Question

"To be or not to be – that is the question!" stated Shakespeare's Hamlet. THAT IS THE QUESTION – for every human being. That is the choice of living for everyone. When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, I doubt that he realized the full ramification of Hamlet's statement.
If Satan was writing Hamlet, it probably would have said, "To have or not to have - that is the question!" The paramount philosophy of the god of this world is "I want to have!" The newspapers, TV, and the junk mail incessantly hammer us with a message to buy, buy, buy. I am told that the latest fashion, food, drink, appliance, vacation, or whatever is being sold, will enhance my lifestyle, make me (even more) attractive and bring happiness. The lack of any of these will irretrievably diminish me as a person.
I already know from experience that this is not actually true, but when I lean toward the world's influence, I can be a sucker for the next "fix" like any drug addict.
All the corporate greed that we have seen in the Enron and Worldcom messes point out that no matter how much some people have, they want to HAVE MORE. And they rationalize that any shady deal to acquire more is OK no matter how many people are hurt by it. Where does it all end?
If my possessions or my family, my knowledge, my doctrine or even my church are held as an extension of myself, and if the loss of these, sad as it might be, actually reduces me as a person, something is wrong. Jesus said, "A person's real life in no way depends upon the extent of his possessions." When I am what I HAVE, my perceptions are out of line. All the temptations of Jesus were based on the premise that He could HAVE something more – food, miracle, power – which would enhance His ministry, while at the same time, casting doubt on who He WAS, which was the essence of His mission.
GOD'S NAME IS NOT "I HAVE" BUT "I AM", WHICH IS A REVELATION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. He is the Eternal Now; and what He HAS, which is everything, is totally eclipsed by who He IS – the always existing One out of whom all life and all creation spring. As we join in a living union with Him through Jesus Christ dwelling in us, so we find HAVING overshadowed by the wonder and thrill of BEING. HAVING holds no live relationship, whereas BEING is all vibrant contact and fellowship.
We tend to place these things in the wrong order of importance. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't possess anything. But it does mean that we are not chained and bound by what we own.
The HAVING mode intrusively extends into other areas besides material possessions. When we say that we HAVE knowledge, that usually means that we possess a store of information which may or may not be useful and which is often a source of competition with others. By contrast, KNOWING is a present, flexible function which is the dynamic of creative ideas and activity.
In the area of leadership, there is a difference between HAVING authority based on earned or unearned status, and BEING an authority which has to do with competence and ability in a particular area. The first is acquired in such a way that it has no necessary relation to capability. The second comes from within a person and is a functioning quality of life which may exercise leadership when necessary.
Perhaps most important for us are the areas of faith, hope and love. Faith in the HAVING style usually provides a set formula (doctrine) which in company with my group or church provides a crutch of certainty which makes unnecessary the need to search out the answers to life for myself. Jesus, when asked to give His disciples more faith, revealed that it was not a "thing" to be hoarded, like food in a pantry, but a functional activity, like a muscle to be exercised.
The "I AM Faith" lifestyle reiterates within my BEING that God IS, that Christ IS living in me, and that He is in charge of my life whatever happens – even to the destruction of my crutches. Any certainty I have is, therefore, based on my experience of BEING in Him, my fellowship with Him, my union with HIS faith – "...I live by the faith OF the Son of God..." Galatians 2:20 King James version. This is real faith rather than an illusion of security based on HAVING external authority.
HAVING hope is better than not having hope. But, again, is your hope based on having a set formula for the future? Or shouldn't you say, "I AM hope!" because all of your future is based on Who you are, a Christ-person. You ARE Eternal Life in Christ! You are seated in the heavenlies now in Christ! Everything concerning your future IS Christ – and you have your BEING in a living union with Him, as mysterious but as real as the Trinity of God. This is real hope.
Love also, in a very real sense, is something which I cannot HAVE. Like faith and hope, it cannot be quantified. Again, it is not something to be possessed, but an activity of life to be expressed. When I try to HAVE love, I usually end up suffocating the object of my love with phonyness. In reality, love can only be a function of the inner life of God through union with Christ which affirms, supports and enjoys another, thus standing them on their own feet to live their own lives. The love from BEING demonstrates that I am on their side yet does not constrain them to inhibit their creativity and fulfillment.
If "God IS love" as 1 John 4:8,16 states, then love is not a quality that God can give to us to use. God does not have love to give, but He does even better – He give Himself, His BEING. Conversion and the new birth make us a new person, God's child instead of Satan's child. We receive the spiritual DNA of God. And that DNA, that building block of God's nature, makes us the LOVE OF GOD!
So let us place far into the background the perception of what we HAVE. And let us grow in AWARENESS of who we ARE:

GOD THE FATHER IN OUR NATURE!
JESUS CHRIST IN OUR SPIRIT!
AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR
SOUL-MIND TEACHING US TO
LIVE BY WHO WE ARE!

"To be or not to be, that is the question."

And, as the U.S. Army says,
"BE all that you can BE!"

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