God is a verb.

I AM a verb, I AM that I AM. I will be who I will be. I AM a verb! I AM alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I AM a being verb. And as My very essence is a verb, I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as, confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running,dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless "I AM" there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.

For something to move from death to life you must introduce something living and moving into the mix. To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense, is to move from law to grace. (Here are) a few examples...

(Take these) two words: responsibility and expectation. Before these words became nouns, they were first My words, nouns with movement and experience buried inside of them; the ability to respond and expectancy. My words are alive and dynamic-full of life and possibility; yours are dead, full of law and fear and judgement. That is why you won't find the word responsibility in the scriptures.

Religion must use law to empower itself and control the people who they need in order to survive. I give you an ability to respond and your response is to be free to love and serve in every situation, and therefore each moment is different and unique and wonderful. Because I AM your ability to respond, I have to be present in you. If I simply gave you a responsibility, I would not have to be with you at all. It would now be a task to perform, an obligation to be met, something to fail.

Let's use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship. If you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. ... That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. But what happens if I change "expectancy" to "expectation" - spoken or unspoken? Suddenly law has entered into our relationship. You are know expected to perform in a way that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing of rules and requirements. It is no longer about you and me, but about what friends are supposed to do, or the responsibilities of a good friend.

Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgement, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value. What I have is a constant and living expectancy in our relationship, and I give you an ability to respond to any situation and circumstance in which you find yourself.

Another excerpt from "The Shack" by William P. Young