“God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 NAS
“A great love for God will always turn obedience into joy!”
My question today asks “delight or drudgery?”
In a close friendship or even in a marriage, at first you are willing to cheerfully do an amazing number of things for another person as long as you feel appreciation and love for them. But if the friendship cools, or the marriage is allowed to become routine after a while, doing even the smallest thing for the other can seem an inconvenience and hardship. Why does what was once a delight now become drudgery, something only dutifully done?
Simply stated, your motivation has changed. When love lessens, delight becomes drudgery. In your spiritual life also, obedience is not really where the problem lies. Take a few moments to honestly evaluate your love for God. Is it still as authentic and real as it once was? As it should be? Has it lessened even the slightest?
When what you once found a joy has become something that you do only because you ought to do so, rather than what you want to do – you have left your first love (See Revelation 2:4-5 NIV), or as one translation reads, “your don’t love Me . . as at the first.” NLT.
Don’t waste time struggling to be better at obeying; go straight to the source. Rediscover your love for the Lord. Remember what He has done for you, all that He means to you, what life would be like without Him. Keep your love for Jesus strong, for love is what turns obedience into joy! Jesus could confidently say, “I always do what pleases Him . . I take joy in doing Your will, my God!” John 8:29 NIV/Psalm 40:8 NLT.
Why would God command that you “love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength?” See Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV/Mark 12:30 NIV. Is that just another thing you have to do? Or could that be the way that allows the Holy Spirit to “work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure,” and makes loving God and doing His will to become your first priority and greatest delight? Here’s what the Bible teaches, “That you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1 NKJV.
My prayer for you today is that your love will not lessen, and every obedience be joy.