ConneXus Blog: Obedience or Performance

By Julia Fowler, Worship Arts Pastor

My soul is so blessed today as I write. I have to share the level of excitement I still residually feel today from our corporate times of worship together these past several weeks. I have received several notes, emails and phone calls describing the ways that you have been experiencing personal revival and "perceiving the new thing" (Isa. 43:19) the Lord is doing in your lives, and as a result in our church.

That IS good news, and all glory goes to the Lord for it.

I believe and know there is power for living, working and witnessing available to each one of us IF we surrender our full selves to God and determine to respond obediently to what HE commands. I also believe that revival can be a life-style instead of an occurrence. There are no mistakes in God's timing, and for such a time as this I can only believe God has led us corporately to 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (NIV).

Humbling, praying, turning and seeking are all attitudes that only come from obedient and surrendered lives. You simply cannot be humble and still pursue a personal agenda. A humbled spirit is self-LESS and Christ-FULL. Our instructions from the Lord are clear: to love God and love others and all the other instructions are based on these two (Matt 22:34-40). Praying requires deliberate and purposeful communication. A healthy prayer life consists of daily conversation with God at the least –Thess. 5:17 instructs us to "pray continually." Seeking the face of the Lord demands action. The word seek literally means to "go in search of'" or to "try and

discover". The final command is to turn from the our wicked ways, or more simply put, just stop doing those things you know you shouldn't do and INSTEAD do what Christ would do; act the way He would, respond, think and behave like He would. You may be thinking these things are easy to say, but harder to do. I struggle with that feeling, too.

Sometimes, in the church especially, we can get caught up in a lifestyle of playing Christianity; we look the right way, do the right things, sit on the right boards, make the right decisions, speak a language that suggests we really care and that our prayer life is up to speed–a verbiage that implies we are connected–and yet the real connection/power source is missing. Plugging ourselves back into the power of Christ takes effort, many times literal sweat, and certainly many tears, but living a life of obedience versus performance is what the Lord requires.

During the coming weeks consider whether the motivating factor in your Christian walk is Obedience or Performance. These next few ideas may give you a place to begin your evaluation.

Obedience is seeking God with your whole heart.

Performance is having a quiet time because you'll feel guilty if you don't.

Obedience is finding ways to let the word of God dwell in you richly.

Performance is quickly scanning a passage so you can check it off your Bible reading plan.

Obedience is inviting guests to your home for dinner.

Performance is feeling anxious about whether every detail of the meal will be perfect.

Obedience is following God's prompting to start a small group, Bible study or relationship.

Performance is reluctance to let anyone else lead the group because they might not do it as well as you would.

Obedience is doing your best.

Performance is wanting to be the best.

Obedience is saying yes to whatever God asks of you.

Performance is saying yes to whatever people ask of you.