Duty or Devotion

Priorities have been on my mind a lot this week.

At Bible Study last night we took a look at the lifestyle of the pharisees. The pharisees did many "good" things. They obeyed the law, preached the law, tithed, prayed....but they were imitating the "religious life" without Christ. They were motivated by selfish gain and pride. Their lifestyle was incredibly legalistic. They even mocked and slandered Jesus because He tried to help them see the freedom that comes through a relationship with Him.

When our relationship with Christ transforms into a to-do list, we miss the point of Jesus dying. He died so that we could be made righteous. He died so that we might experience the freedom and the peace that come from knowing Him. He did not die so that we would have to work to gain salvation. Paul writes in Galatians 2:21: "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." He also writes in Ephesians 2:9: "Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

Often I find that the "good" things I do (ex. sharing my faith, discipling other believers, attending Bible Studies, serving, tithing) start to become activities of duty and obligation rather than responses to God's love. These "activities" are all things that stretch my faith and are beneficial, but they are also things that are constantly attacked by Satan. The devil hates it when we are motivated by love. He desires us to be driven by pride. He wants us to consider God's grace as insignificant and meaningless. Because humans are prone to act out of selfishness, it is easy for Satan to pervert our motivations for doing things. At Faithwalkers, Rob Gerber talked about how easy it is for us to run for Christ rather than with Him. He spoke of how we often focus on the commands of the Bible, but ignore the promises of God. I have fallen into this so often.

*This week I am forcing myself to slow down. I need to step back and look at how I am living and what my life is revolving around.

Here are some questions I am challenging myself with :

Is God your main priority? Does your relationship with Him come before anything and everything else? Are you acting out of duty or devotion? Are you being weighed down by the tasks before you, or are you experiencing peace and joy because you are clinging to God's promises?