Don’t Try so Hard is the topic of conversation on pages 101-103 in Crazy Love. Don’t try so hard to do “what” is the question we might be asking.
Mr. Chan answers that with: “God wants us to crave a relationship with Him as we crave all genuine love relationships. He wants believers to desire Him and not be slaves who serve Him out of obligation.”
Chan then quotes Galatians 5:13, 14: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But, do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather; serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
From this scripture, Chan points out that when we love, we’re free. We don’t have to worry about a burdensome load of commands. He then ask the question, “Do you feel free in your Christian life?”
Before, we can answer Chan’s question, I think we must take into consideration what Galatians 5:1 says: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
The word in that verse that is blaring out to me is entangled. My handy on-line dictionary defines entangle as: ‘to twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl, to complicate; confuse, to involve in a tangle.’
Now back to Chan’s question: “Do you feel free in your Christian life to genuinely love and desire God, and not serve Him out of obligation?”
I believe before we can answer that question, we must first take a look at things that might have entangled us. May I suggest a few:
- Pay God Back: Straight to the point, and excuse my English: “It ain’t even possible to pay God back for what His Son, Jesus, did for us.” No Scripture is needed as a reference. If ever we should need a reminder, take a look at a picture of Jesus on the Cross; that should quench that little lie.
- False Guilt: A failure to trust God to forgive their sins may cause some people to try to serve God in order to work off their guilt, as in works of penance. But, this is contrary to God’s promise of complete forgiveness to all who confess their sins. (Colossians 2:13; 1 John 1:9)
- Inability to say No: Are you one who says “yes” every time someone from the church calls and ask you to fill a certain position?” “Do you feel obligated, even though you don’t feel right for the job?” “Are you left with feelings of guilt if you say, ‘No’?” I fell into this category until I learned that God had placed within me certain gifts as to how He wanted me to serve Him. (Ephesians 4:11) My pastor sums it up well: “Our gift is the one we use with minimum effort, maximum effectiveness, and a maximum of joy.” Believe me, that took a load of guilt off me as I began to serve Him in love with the gift He had placed within me rather than out of obligation.
And the obligation list could go and on into more areas, such as: legalism, self-seeking, performance-orientated, to name a few.
Sir Walter Scott, noted novelist and poet in the 1800’s said: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”
If we are serving God out of obligation, we have woven a tangled web, and we are the ones being deceived. Let’s get untangled, so we can move forward and be free to serve God out of our Love for Him.
Be blessed,
Martha
Let’s Pray:
Father God, first of all, we open our hearts to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to show us where we have felt obligated to serve You. Help us to replace those motives and lies, so that we are free to love YOU with a genuine love as You desire. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Your Assignment:
Do you feel obligated in any way to love and serve the Lord? If so, what has entangled you?
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About Martha Bush
martha, you are right! it does seem to happen so easily—that our hearts get caught up in obligation to the One Who loves us so much…. but the solution, the deliverance from this tendency must come, i think, in our continual surrender EVERYthing to Christ. by God’s grace, He will help us with this today. <3
Surrender is right, Coleen. Don’t you just love how He wants us to keep examining our hearts to grow in Him?
It is a better to place to be when i pray and give to God out of the Joy of my heart because of what He has done for me. When you focus on how much He loves us, you can not help but do it out of joy. Doing so out of obligation only causes frustration and guilt. Good words
You are so right, Crystal. It is hard to comprehend how much He loves us, but as you say when we do, serving Him becomes a joy, not an obligation.
I remember a time when I couldn’t say “no” out of obligation. The Lord spoke to me and reassured me that He was not looking for the sacrifice but for what was in my heart. Now when I am asked or “expected” to do something, I go to Him first for His reply. Then I don’t feel any guilt in saying “no” if I sense that God is saying “no.” For the other suggestions like “self-seeking” and “performance-orientated”, I hadn’t thought about those before but I think I can see how at times those might get in my way of loving God freely. Thanks for pointing those out, now I need to think about getting rid of any evidence of them! 🙂
Clella, I love how you stated that: I need to think about getting rid of any evidence of them. Let me know what HE says to you about those two.