A useful or beautiful gospel?

A useful or beautiful gospel?

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Obedience in religion is very different than obedience in Christianity. What is your reason for Obeying God? How you answer this question will determine

whether you can live in joy or live in frustration. How do you know if you are living religious obedience or a Christian obedience? Answer this question? Are you obeying God because He’s useful or because he’s beautiful?

When all you can see is God as someone to pray to or do something for to get something in return you have a religious obedience. You obey and pray because God is useful. This motivation will always have you pursuing your desires not obeying because your desire is Christ Himself. You’ll find yourself in crisis when that thing you are praying for and obeying God for never manifests itself. What’s the alternative?

If you will envisage a moment where you are not going through the religious motions to become successful, to have a happy marriage, to end some suffering you will be taking a step where the usefulness of God isn’t controlling you but the love of God is. The Apostle Paul Explains it like this:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV)
Christian obedience is not done to get something. Christian obedience is done because we love Him. We obey not to fix our workplace or have a happy marriage or a successful life. We obey because he’s beautiful. We obey because He has taken my ugliness, my sin and imputed His righteousness and beauty on me. A Christian obeys for the love of Christ he has already received not blessing he wants as a favor.

Lydia, was one of the first converts to Christianity in Paul’s mission work. Lydia was already religious and thought she had God. She was living obedience to God because He was useful. This obedience will ware you out. It will empty you. A Christian however obeys to delight Him. When the love of Christ controls you our obedience won’t ware you out it fills you and empowers you. Hebrews 11 doesn’t list the names of those who obeyed God because he was useful. They obeyed because they could see he was beautiful. That’s why their faith was counted as righteousness not usefulness.

A friend of mine had lost his children in a custody dispute. He told me that he is praying to get his kids back and has claimed that prayer. He started going to a Bible School to change his life so God would give his children back. This is obedience seeing God as useful. I asked him what if God doesn’t bring your children back? He said I don’t believe that will happen. I told him the only way to really get through this without being shaken is to obey seeing how beautiful Christ is. 

Christ has to be enough. It can’t be Jesus and answered prayer or Jesus and your boss changing, or Jesus and a happy home. When His love controls you there is no circumstance that can kill your joy because He has already raised you up from death to an effulgent redemption. Stop obeying Him because he’s useful and start obey Him because he is beautiful!