I hated reading books when I was much younger, especially when it was a fictional novel. My dad on his own part did what every good father would do: encourage my siblings and I to read as much as possible. I had no way of stopping the constant flow of books streaming down from my dad to us, but I had to develop a coping mechanism. I would just flip through most of the pages, pausing occasionally to read a few lines. Luckily, he never asked us to summarize the stories. I could not afford to pay the price of not ‘reading’ those books, so I just had to do something. Deep beneath whatever I did was the fear of my dad.
That hatred has progressively dissipated and I’ve been changed. I was reading a book recently: Prayers of a God Chaser by Tommy Tenney. I saw a paragraph that I could relate the above story to.
“It seems to me that most, if not all of the great sacrifices and ‘surrenders of the soul’ in history were founded upon and motivated by love rather than fear. Is there any doubt that Jesus’ surrender of His will in the garden was birthed in His love for the father and for us?”
Beyond my childhood escapades that were motivated by fear, the excerpt above describes the exact opposite of what is mostly obtainable in our time. Fear of the cankerworm drives us to tithe and give. Fear of the ‘diseases of the Egyptians’ makes us get involved in serving in the household of God. Out of fear, we sacrifice our time and resources in doing ‘things’, hoping that one day; it will be enough to swing the hand of God in our favour. Fear even colours our prayers – sometimes we fear the enemies more that we fear and believe God. Fear just makes us forget who we are in God as well as the promises we have in God.
At the very root of this fear-driven motivation is the absence of personal Bible study. If I can get myself to study, I will really understand that: “… God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” and that “ No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.” Moreover, I will constantly have it at the back of my mind that God is not moved by the things I do, because He looks beyond the actions to the motives behind those actions. If it were not so, Jesus would not have told the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The Pharisee was a perfect ‘doer’, yet the Publican received justification at the place of prayer.
It is all about LOVE and it’s simply that simple. I guess this is a good time to do that self-check to determine what our motives are for all the things that we seem to be doing for God. It’s possible that the miracle workers that Jesus spoke about in Matt 7:22 – 23 did not do this check at the right time. Result is not a proof of God’s presence. Love and the fruits of love…
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matt 7:22-23 (NIV)
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