A common struggle in our daily walk with Christ is those times when we simply are not passionate about obeying. Friends ask us why we seem disinterested in spiritual things, and they want to pull us out of our lethargy. So often during these times we struggle for any real explanation. We know what the Scriptures say, and our theology is tightly wound and unflinching. But when faced with believing truth over lies and walking in obedience, we have no drive, no passion to submit. The popular notion that heightened emotions are the octane of obedience has left Christians with no way to test their motives except by their feelings.
A sense of emotional passion has become the only litmus test of a pure motive. Anything less than tangibly felt affection for Christ is not true obedience in the minds of many. But the legitimacy of obedience is never to be measured by the presence or absence of emotion. It is marked by humble faith in Christ and a yielded will. And the opposite is true. When we have merely been conforming in some outward way to biblical commands, with no genuine heart of faith and humility, it will inevitably be followed by an increasing attitude of self-righteousness. It is crucial to understand that obeying the Lord means submitting to His will. There’s no precondition for yielding to Scripture. Obedience does not become genuine when we “feel affectionate toward God.” It is genuine when we obey “from the heart” (Rom 6:17).
What does it mean to obey from the heart? It cannot mean that we must first be carried along by lofty emotions. We may indeed obey at times when our passions are supercharged, but emotions are not a trustworthy gauge of motives or spiritual maturity. Charles Spurgeon once said, “To feel God’s love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest. He may be but a little Christian who knows God’s love, but he is a great Christian who believes it when the visible contradicts it and the invisible withholds its witness.” Obeying “from the heart” does mean that by faith we present the members of our bodies as slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:16–18). We yield to the truth, placing ourselves completely at the disposal of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:16). Yielding in faith is the key to a full-hearted obedience. You might be saying, But if I just submit my will when everything in me seems disinterested or resistant, my motives won’t be pure and I’ll be conforming in hypocrisy. I understand the challenge of assessing motives for obedience.
Let’s admit that until we are with Jesus in glory, our motives at any given moment will always be a mixture of selfish man-centered cravings and humble, Godward faith and love. How rich we are to know (1) that our “transgressions are covered” (Ps 32:1), and (2) that the Lord accepts our obedience in Christ despite our mixed motives. Even on our very best day when our obedience seems for the most part genuine, we “are not by this acquitted” (1 Cor 4:4). But God knows our frame, and He turns our meager service and mixed motives into ever-increasing grace trophies for His glory.
Whatever meager offering we bring in our striving, He accepts it as loving obedience from one of His beloved children. When you don’t feel like obeying, confess to the Lord your feeble and faithless heart, repent and humbly believe that He is worthy, then go forward in faith and submissiveness to His Word.
Adapted from Free to Be Holy: The Liberating Grace of Walking by Faith by Jerry Wragg and Paul Shirley
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