Do you remember when you were a child and you hated doing certain chores at your house? I sure do! I hated to clean the bathroom. I would go in there and look around, to see if it “really needed it.” If I could get by with flushing the toilet once, picking a couple pieces of sand out of the tub or shower, changing the towels, and wiping the mirror with my sleeve, I would do it and quickly move on! As an adult, I regularly followed-up the chores of my own kids and said things like “The object is to get this place clean, not to finish quickly!” or, “Did you really mop this floor?”
As it turns out, as adults we still must do those chores (*and even more chores) and we do them begrudgingly and therefore don’t do them well. I see students sometimes that begrudgingly get dressed in the morning before coming to class and you can tell! I see people who come to a meeting because they are obligated to do so, and their whole attitude and body posture clearly shows it!
I’m going to be brutally honest for one minute. I have to confess that in my life when I act this way it is nothing more than outright rebellion! Yeah, that’s right, it is me saying I know what is best and that I don’t want to do it, so I’ll do just what needs to be done and I will be certain others know that I’m not in favor of this. Ouch! That hurts to admit! But I know down in my sinful heart that this is true, and I have felt God’s clear conviction regarding this – that’s why it hurts! When I’m told to do something but refuse to do it, or do it grudgingly, I send the same self-centered message to all around me – I know what’s best and this isn’t it!
I was convicted again of this fact as I read about King Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah. He was ill to the point of death but cried out to the Lord (that was his usual way of dealing with anything). Listen to his cry to the Lord:
“Remember O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” (Isaiah 38:3)
I would love to cry out to God like this “faithfully and with wholehearted devotion” – that I know is not at all like my half-hearted rebellion!
ACTION POINT:
Stop right now and ask God where you are acting “half-heartedly,” and confess it for what it is before God. Thank God for all that He has placed in authority over you, and ask God for the ability to follow Him (and them) with sincerity and wholehearted devotion.
