Today I had the afternoon off (can I get an amen?!) so I came home to my apartment (YES I'm finally moved out and am l o v ing the new space) and sat down to watch a Matt Chandler sermon Matt had sent me. When you have an hour to spare, sit down and watch "Motivation for Obedience" and please tell me you felt as convicted as I did. Chandler is my go-to for watching sermons, downloading podcasts, you name it. If you have no idea who I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and download every single one of his podcasts on iTunes. Thank me later.
The second half of the sermon is what stuck out to me the most, specifically
There are rewards that come with obedience but the primary driver of Christian obedience is the love of God made manifest in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the unwavering forgiveness and delight is what should be driving us.
Now I know for me personally, my daily Bible reading doesn't always come from a heart that realizes the extreme magnitude of Christ's love for me that I simply want to read His word out of obedience and gratitude. There are days where I read my Bible simply because I know I "have" to; days when I speed read before grabbing my keys and coffee mug before driving off to work. Chandler's sermon convicted me of not only how I treat my quiet time alone with the Lord every morning, but also how I treat my whole relationship with the One who bore my sins, forgave me of every wrong doing I have done and have yet to do, the only One able to love me with a love so perfect and real. Knowing all this, how am I still able to chose ulterior motives to "just get through" my quiet times? How can I know a love so strong and so raw that it loves me in spite of my innumerable flaws and yet chose to have a lukewarm faith that spends time with Him for five minutes before carrying on with my day?
Convicting.
And so now, I challenge myself and any of you poor souls who have made it through this post of my overflowing, convicted heart to reevaluate our motivations for obedience. If you do so and realize your primary motivation is simply because you know Christ's love and want to return His love to the best of your ability, then you're winning at life and give me your advice... ASAP. If you're like me and you have secondary motivations that overshadow what the primary motivation should be, let's work together to allow Christ's love to be our primary goal and focus for every aspect of our lives.
xo
