“Going Through The Motions”

Yesterday, I was moved by the tremendous song called The Motions, by Christian artist and singer Matthew West. It speaks of passionately living for Christ, not just “going through the motions.” Tears flowed from my eyes when I heard the lines, “I don’t want to go through the motions, I don’t want to go one more day, without Your all-consuming, passion inside of me, I don’t want to spend my whole life asking, what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions, take me all the way…!” What passion! I’m still learning what living with passion for Christ means. I know it is NOT by “going through the motions.”

How is your Christian life going? Are you living passionately for Him, or just “going through the motions?” Are you walking in the Spirit, or wallowing in the sea of regret? Have you been waiting for life to come to you, or are you pursuing it for the glory of God? Do you feel like someone’s stolen your dream? Have you been reeling from a skeleton in your past? My dear friends, there’s nothing hindering us from living with passion for Christ except one person-you!

Life is full of twists, turns, trials and pitfalls. The road of faithfulness is narrow but full of grace. It can be hard, but He is loaded with help. Have you come to the fork in the road where the sign reads, “Whatever God delivers, I am going to live passionately for Him. This way!” The apostle Paul took that road. He said in II Cor. 5:9-10, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Paul’s noble ambition was to be pleasing to Him. He had been blasted with trials but still blazed for Christ. Why could he live so passionately? Did he adhere to a sterile set of rules? Did he possess star power? No, it was because Christ loved him and he loved Christ. He was overwhelmed by grace (I Tim. 1:16). He had been forgiven much and this transferred into zeal for Him. He knew the idols that hijack our passion. He understood our lusts for comfort, ease, reputation, self, yet he did not go through “the motions.” He didn’t look back on a life of regret with the nagging question, “…what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions!”

No, he wanted God to take him all the way and live with an all-consuming passion for Him. How are you doing my friends? Take heart. God is in whatever you are going through (Romans 8:28-30). He wants you to live passionately for Him. Defeat the temptation of neglect that comes with “going through the motions.” Repent if you are “going through the motions,” and ask Him to help you “live with His passions.” Embrace His grace at Calvary. He delights to “work within you for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). Let Him take you all the way to an all-consuming passion for Him. I love you my dear friends.
Not going through the motions,

Rick