There’s a pattern in how God works on a person, and it’s easy to get backwards. We assume the Christian life starts with doing: pray more, serve more, sin less, try harder. But Scripture keeps pointing the other direction. Before God asks us to do anything, He tells us who we are.
Be, do, become. That order matters. God shapes the heart first, then the actions follow, then over time a whole life is changed. Get the order wrong and you end up exhausted, performing for a love you already have. So let’s start where God starts.
Be: The Foundation of Christian Identity and Heart
When you come to Christ, the first thing that changes isn’t your behavior. It’s your standing. You move from being separated from God to being His child, adopted, forgiven, and secure. Paul doesn’t tell the Ephesians to earn this. He tells them what’s already true: “you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Ephesians 2:19).
Identity Comes Before Activity
This is the part we keep skipping. We want a to-do list, and God hands us an identity instead. You are loved. You are forgiven. You are His. Those aren’t rewards for good performance. They’re the ground you stand on before you’ve done a single thing right.
It’s the difference between working for acceptance and working from it. One drains you. The other frees you. When your security rests in grace rather than your last good week, you can serve without fear and fail without falling apart.
Christian Attitudes Flow From the Heart
Godly christian attitudes don’t get bolted on from the outside. They grow out of who you’ve become in Christ. A heart that knows it’s been forgiven finds it easier to forgive. A heart secure in God’s love stops grasping for approval from everyone else. Jesus put it plainly: “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart” (Luke 6:45).
So the work God does first is interior. He’s not just trimming bad behavior. He’s giving you a new heart, the one Ezekiel promised, where He swaps out the heart of stone for a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Change the heart and the attitudes follow.
This is why “be” comes first. You can’t fake your way into Christlike attitudes through willpower. They flow from an identity that’s settled and a heart that’s been remade by grace. Everything else in the Christian life is built on this foundation.
Do: Living Out Faith Through Obedient Action
A changed heart doesn’t stay hidden. It shows up in what you do. When God renews the inner person, that renewal works its way out into your hands, your schedule, and your relationships. Faith that never moves into action isn’t really faith at all. James put it bluntly: faith without works is dead.
This is where Christian attitudes stop being private and start being visible. The “be” comes first, but the “do” is the evidence. You can’t manufacture genuine obedience without the heart change behind it, and you can’t claim the heart change while ignoring the obedience in front of you.
Obedience Flows From Love, Not Fear
Jesus tied obedience directly to love. “If you love me, keep my commands.” Notice the order. Love comes first, and the keeping follows. This matters because it changes the whole reason we do anything for God.
A lot of people try to obey God hoping it will earn them something, or out of fear of what happens if they don’t. That kind of obedience burns out fast. But when your heart belongs to Christ, obedience becomes a response, not a transaction. You serve because you’ve been served. You forgive because you’ve been forgiven.
Faith Shows Up in the Ordinary
The “do” of the Christian life rarely looks dramatic. It’s mostly small and repeated. Choosing patience with a difficult coworker. Telling the truth when a lie would be easier. Giving when no one is watching. Showing up for someone who can’t pay you back.
These ordinary actions are where Christian attitudes get tested and proven. Anybody can act loving for an afternoon. Living it out across years, in the boring stretches and the hard ones, takes a heart that God keeps shaping.
Service Is the Natural Outflow
Think back to the story of my mom taking Simon’s clothes to the hospital. Her faith didn’t stay in her head. She believed God would heal her son, so she acted on it. The clothes were the obedience that matched the belief.
That’s the pattern. Real faith reaches for its coat and walks out the door. When God renews your heart, you stop asking what’s the minimum you can do and start looking for ways to love, serve, and obey. The doing isn’t a burden anymore. It’s what a grateful heart actually wants.
Become: Growing Into Christlikeness Over Time
You don’t wake up one morning suddenly patient, gentle, and free from old habits. Becoming like Christ is slow work. The Bible calls it sanctification, which is just a long word for God reshaping who you are over the course of a lifetime.
Paul put it plainly: we are “being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Notice the wording. It’s a process, not a single event. You’re not finished, and neither am I.
God Is Doing the Shaping
This part matters. You don’t manufacture christian attitudes through willpower alone. God does the molding. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
Your job is to stay close to the One doing the work: prayer, Scripture, worship, the company of other believers. The fruit comes from the Spirit, not from gritting your teeth. The bitterness you couldn’t shake, the temper you couldn’t tame, the fear that ran your decisions? God sands those down over years, often when you barely notice it happening.
Growth Often Comes Through Hard Things
Some of the deepest changes in our character get forged in the difficult seasons. “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
Nobody asks for the hard chapters. But looking back, those are often where the real growth happened. The waiting taught patience. The loss taught dependence. The conflict taught us how much we still needed mending.
Be Patient With the Process
If you compare today’s version of yourself to who you were five years ago, you’ll probably see God’s fingerprints. The change is real, even when it feels slow. Don’t despair over the parts that still need work. He’s not done.
Key Takeaways
Be, do, become isn’t a checklist. It’s the rhythm of a life with God. You start by resting in who you are in Christ. From that identity flows obedient action. And over a lifetime, God grows your christian attitudes and character to look more like His Son.
- Be: Your identity is anchored in Christ before you ever lift a finger to earn it.
- Do: Real faith shows up in how you live and treat people.
- Become: God patiently shapes your heart toward Christlikeness across your whole life.
None of this happens in isolation. We grow alongside other believers who encourage us, challenge us, and remind us who we belong to. If this stirred something in you, find a church family, open the Word, and keep walking. He who began the work will finish it.
Naleng Real serves in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Orphaned at three and one of four siblings to survive the Pol Pot years, she went on to earn a Bachelor degree in English Literature at Norton University and a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from the East Asia School of Theology in Singapore. She has served since 1994 as a translator, interpreter, worship leader and trainer — nine years with the Assemblies of God and nine with World Vision International — and today works in church planting, Kairos facilitation and Bible translation.
All writing by Naleng →
