What can I get away with? How much do I have to do?
Yancey’s devotion that hit me this week revolved around this theme. He shares a story from graduate school. One of the requirements for completion was to take some basic German and pass a test. This was not something that excited him. But he did it. Why? Becuase there was a test. If he didn’t do it, the test would knock him out of school and the degree he’d been working so hard towards. So he did what he felt he had to do, he studied. He didn’t do so with much enthusiasm, but he did enough to pass.
What’s the point? Sometimes it seems like people treat faith in this way. They want to live life however they please and they’ll do some “good deeds” to kind of balance things out. They’re good enough. They go to church some. They treat these pieces of their life like they’re trying to prove to God they’ve done just enough. And they hope God overlooks their sins and they can get away with a few things.
Why do we want to get away with anything? Why don’t they want to spend time with God in church, in prayer, or serving? There’s a really fundamental problem here. They’re basing their relationship with God more on law then on grace. Don’t get me wrong, law has it’s place, but as Paul says, grace abounds. Think of your most intimate relationships. Would you be excited about spending time with someone who feels like they have to hang out with you every once in a while? Would you want them to be figuring out the bare minimum they could do to keep up the relationship?
Obviously not. God wants his love for us to result in a love flowing back to him, in a desire to spend time with him, and in a desire to do not “just enough”, but to live a life echoing his desires and plan.
I think these thoughts from Yancey could help us all refocus our attitudes and our actions.
