“God is as particular about His method as He is about His purpose. The question is not one of doing a thing for God, but of God.” This idea was written by T. Austin-Sparks, a British theologian in the mid 20th century.As I reflected on his words, I wondered: “What is the distinction between them?   Both “doing something for God” and “doing something of God” have elements of faith.  Both actions involve cultivating faith, making one’s faith growth.Then I saw it:  Doing For God is a small step while “doing something OF God” is an entire experience.Each task I undertake, I try to do FOR GOD.  This is the method I tend to use. At the time of original intent, I commit the task to God. I acknowledge my dependence on Him, ask for His guidance, claim His power, and then offer the completed task back to Him for his blessing.  “Lord, I pray this task would bring glory to your name.”But the purpose for a given task, Austin-Sparks suggests, should be “OF GOD”. So one’s method is different from one’s purpose.   What does it mean that my purpose is OF GOD?I believe it means this.  All that I think about, plan out, actively do is completely surrounded by God. The whole process is infused with God.  His love, His favor, His divinity, His holiness, His eternal plan weave throughout every fiber of the task.  Indeed, anything that is not God  I should discard.  That which is “not God” should play no role in the task at hand.Let’s compare this idea of doing something “for God” to doing something “of God.” Think about swimming: Your task is to swim.  You walk down the beach into the water.  The cool water runs over your toes.  You wade out as far as you desire.  You’ve finally gotten wet. Perhaps you bob up and down a few times.  Maybe you even shout,  “Hey, I‘m swimming.”But to truly experience swimming, you have to keep going. Getting your toes wet is not swimming.  Slithering along in the shallows, with sand scrapping your belly is not swimming.   Just getting wet, bobbing in the waves, is not enough either.  You have to immerse yourself in the water, head and hair, nose and toes. You have to allow water to encircle your torso, and let cool streams flow against your arms. You need to feel waves breaking over your face, and let your legs propel you forward.  Then you are truly swimming.  At that point you are completely “of the water.”This distinction of doing something for God compared to doing something of God is the difference between a shallow, half-baked effort at swimming compared to a full immersion during which you are “of the water” as you swim.This is the way it should be with our interaction with God.  Doing something “for God” is getting your feet wet in the essence of God.  Doing something “of God” is truly swimming in the full presence of God. 

Let’s go and swim.  Let’s enter the full presence of God.