In May, I wrote the blog post, “Is Godliness Active or Passive?” and intentionally concluded without a definitive answer, posing a question and providing my readers with what I hoped would be good food for thought.
There’s a tension between what is a quiet spirit and what is complacency. There’s also a tension between what is serving and what is distraction. There’s a tension between the beautiful diversity of spiritual giftings in the church and a not-so-beautiful array of spiritual excuses. These conceptual tensions may feel uncomfortable when there is no satisfying, pre-packaged answer of what is right and what is wrong. But that discomfort is a good thing in my eyes; after all, there is no growth without discomfort. The primary goal of this blog post was to raise a good question.
In light of the long length, I was delightfully surprised by the response I received. Two readers took the time not only to read the article, but also to share extremely thoughtful and insightful replies. My aunt, Joelle, reached out with a personal and relevant story from her life. My friend, Emily Beecher, emailed me a letter, which she wrote across three days with powerful excerpts from books she has been reading. With their permission, I am sharing these insights with you.
A Letter from Joelle Duran
I first read this sitting in the basement of a friend’s house in Des Moines on my way home from Missouri to Minnesota, and I knew I would need more time to ruminate on this topic. Then life intervened, so here I am at last!
I had never considered the dichotomy you set up in the way you presented it, so I quite enjoyed reading your thoughts. I think it comes back to: “Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.” The motive behind our active or passive response. If we’re always choosing one over the other, that implies a higher chance that laziness, habit, or a lack of faith may be involved.
When I first left my salaried job in the public workplace last fall, I was determined to work hard for God and was tracking my daily hours on a calendar. God had to show me that I was striving, treating Him like a human boss when His priorities and objectives were not matching my long-formed ideas of being productive. It has been a learning curve walking with Him in this new season. From the outside, I could definitely seem very passive in some regards, as He keeps stretching and growing my faith in this season. God is sovereign over productivity as He is with everything, and working at His pace is far more productive and fruitful than grinding away in my own strength!
In regard to your example with Mary and Martha, I do interpret it differently. I see it as a matter of priorities, not energy. If Martha had said something like “Mary is always going off to listen to the rabbis and leaving me with the work!” I would consider that passivity/laziness. But Martha’s outburst appears to be aimed at what is an unusual situation, in which Mary chose the treasure of Jesus’ presence, one that might not return to her door, over the tasks that are always at hand. I hope myself when I realize a special encounter with God is at hand, that I have the wisdom to recognize that and set aside everything else.
Aunt Joelle, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! This provides such a clear and beautiful example of how God can be stirring up and actively working in our faiths even when it may seem outwardly passive for a season. How outwardly active or passive our faith ought to display itself seems to have much to do with the seasons we are in. I also appreciate your interpretation of the Mary and Martha story! It is important to consider the additional context that this was a very unusual situation. — Eliana
A Letter from Emily Beecher
May 20, 2025
Dear Eliana,
It seems that nearly everything I’ve interacted with in the last few weeks (and even months) has some relevance to our thoughts on active and passive godliness, on a meek and quiet spirit versus a complacent one. Copying them below and can’t say that I’ve come to any conclusive thoughts on this question (yet), only more thoughts.
“Who Am I? Identity in Christ” by Jerry Bridges, page 25:
The idea that our being in Christ is all of God, and further, because we are in Christ, his very life flows into us, could lead to the impression that we have no responsibility or part to play in this relationship. First of all, although it is indeed of God that we are united to Christ, we are united to him by faith. But where do we get the faith? It is the gift of God (See Ephesians 2:8-9 and Acts 16:14). But though this faith is given to us, we must still exercise it.
Having exercised faith to believe in Christ, we must also exercise faith to draw upon the life and nourishment that comes to us from Christ through our living union with him. There are some who teach that just as the branch does nothing to receive the nourishment of the vine, so we do nothing to receive the life and energy of Christ. But this presses the analogy too far. Just as Christ is not entirely like a vine, we are not entirely like branches. Human beings are unique in that we have been created in the image of God. He has, among other things, given us minds to think with and wills which we may exercise, and he works through our minds and wills; not apart from them.
“The Divine Will” in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions edited by Arthur Bennett, page 15:
It is the meek and humble who are shown thy covenant, know thy will, are pardoned and healed. who by faith depend and rest upon grace, who are sanctified and quickened, who evidence thy love. Help me to pray in faith and so find thy will, by leaning hard on thy rich free mercy, by believing thou wilt give what thou hast promised; Strengthen me to pray with the conviction that whatever I receive is thy gift, so that I may pray until prayer be granted; Teach me to believe that all degrees of mercy arise from several degrees of prayer, that when faith is begun it is imperfect and must grow, as chapped ground opens wider and wider until rain comes.
So shall I wait thy will, pray for it to be done, and by thy grace become fully obedient.
May 30, 2025
Earlier this year, I went to a conference with my sister’s church’s college group where I received the Identity in Christ book by Jerry Bridges. The topic of the conference was Identity in Christ and we did talk about Mary and Martha, specifically Martha and her interactions with Jesus after Lazarus died. The point was that yes, Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying, but if he had, Martha would not have seen, recognized, understood, trusted, and loved Christ and his work as she was able to because Lazarus died. Obviously, there are many applications here, but for our question specifically, the point is to see Jesus, to love Jesus, and to be an image of him out of love for him. But what does that look like? What should that look like?
I’m recognizing that much of my identity and of how I think of myself is in what I’m doing, which is partly why I’ve had some trouble adjusting to this summer where I don’t really have that much going on “doing-wise”–meaning that although my days are full, it doesn’t really seem like I’m doing that much. I’m also recognizing that my “doing” and so much of the sin that I struggle with comes back to the fact that I think that I am self-sufficient, that I think that I am God, that I think that I deserve honor and glory and power and might. But of course, none of that is true.
So, I don’t know that the externality of godliness matters all that much because it’s about the heart. A correct heart will produce correct action. And, as I’m learning more and more, a correct heart loves the Lord more than any other thing, loves his purposes, loves his people, and loves to do his work.
Yes, I’m aware that that looks different for different people—we who were made in the image of God have different gifts and personalities—and that that looks different at different stages of life. And, I’m aware that this is not necessarily an answer to whether godliness is active or passive, but I think godliness and the pursuit of God starts with prayer: “So shall I wait thy will, pray for it to be done, and by thy grace become fully obedient” (“The Divine Will”).
June 9, 2025
Eliana, this letter has taken me far too long—it’s been a strange time for me because every day looks different (not something I’m used to or particularly comfortable with but has been good for me to practice being adaptable and taking advantage of the time I do have rather than envisioning what every minute of my day will look like—a good reminder that I am not God (and praise the Lord for that!)).
So, I’ll finish this out with a final thought from Philippians: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:5-7). Usually I’ve heard this verse in the context of anxiety, and I’d imagine you have, too, but today as I was reading this it struck me that it has some connection to our question!
It seems to me that the correct response (active or passive) to decisions, circumstances, situations, encounters is prayer (active) and then obedience (active). Yes, we might not know what the will of God is in each and every one of these instances, but we do know the commands he has given us (encapsulated completely in Mark 12:29-31: “‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”).
So, I might argue that the correct response to these things is active–not necessarily as in actively “doing” but in actively seeking the Lord, actively pursuing what he has commanded, and actively asking that his will be done in your life (because it will be!).
Your friend, EB
Eliana’s Reply
Emily! I’m so glad that this blog post provided so much food for thought and that you took this time to share this with me! The book excerpts you shared are so rich and beautiful! This reflection was so insightful to read, and kept bringing me back to something one of my home church pastors (Pastor Tim Ingrum) said when I shared my blog draft with him. “Your active/passive distinction might be obscuring another, complementary one: internal/external.” We can be outwardly active or passive at any point, but what really matters is what is going on in our hearts. Like you said so well, “So, I might argue that the correct response to these things is active–not necessarily as in actively ‘doing’ but in actively seeking the Lord, actively pursuing what he has commanded, and actively asking that his will be done in your life (because it will be!)” ❤️
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