Years ago during a presidential election, the media was taking a poll to
see how the public would respond to a question. The question was asked how
you felt that such and such presidential candidate shirked his
responsibility by doing so and so. The only problem with the poll was they
made assumption that the person had in fact actually done this thing
without any fact or proof. In other words before you had a chance to give
thought to the situation, the question boxed you into a predetermined
answer. It put you in a place of answering out of considering, believing,
and answering  from the standpoint that certain unverified claim was
actually fact, without having opportunity to consider otherwise. I tend to
be an extremist. Well extremist isn't the proper term, perhaps a person
needing to see the entire picture for clarity of direction is more the
type. I tend to put two things, you know the proverbial fork in the road? I
tend to apply both ends of the extreme to them, it becomes very clear very
quickly sometimes which of the two ways is the right way to go. And in the
times where there are valid pros or cons to both I'll narrow them in to the
given situation and usually I can get it down to a good coin toss
hahahahaha. But doesn't that sound like a logical way of approaching any
situation? Set them out, stand back, look at the two ways and bring them to
extremes? Right? Well perhaps, but I've just put you in a box with that
question as well. I've got you to answer  assuming there are only two tines
to the fork in the road, Wouldn't life be a bit easier to navigate if that
were the case. what if there were three, four, or more?   So that point you
made Phil? You asked the questions...

"Are you doing things for God because you think they make Him feel better
about you or do you do the things for Him because they make you feel better
about yourself?"

Perhaps not purposefully, that Phil can get kind of tricky you know, you
need to keep an eye on him  lol, but looking at the two aspects to the
question they assume I do them for one of two reasons, therefore posing the
proverbial fork in the road. What if I did them for both reasons? What if I
did them for neither reason. The problem is, after examining why I do what
I do, I need to make another tine in the fork, another road, and by default
get out my three sided coin in case it gets that close hahaha. Doing them
so God can feel better about me seems trite and shallow as if I can buy
God's love, favor and feelings towards me, when I know already that he set
his son on a cross to die for me, so there is no greater love and quote,
feeling for me already. Anything I do in the name of trying to make him
feel better towards me only cheapens the sacrifice exposing my value on it
as well. Imagine a stranger barges into your home, grabs one of your kids
and begins to make demands or he'll kill him or her. After you begin to
meet the demands you begin to realize your son or daughter is probably
about to go for a ride with this person for a living insurance policy with
a good chance you'll never see them again, so you all of the sudden find
opportunity to jump this person freeing your son or daughter, you scuffle a
bit with the stranger, the gun goes off and hits the perpetrator, the gun
again goes off and hits you. The criminal runs off with a little leg wound,
and you lay there paralyzed. You make it but you now live paralyzed for the
act you did to save your son or daughter. Afterwards your son or daughter
wheels you around, helps you eat, cooks for you and does all these things
for you and so you ask why don't they get on with there life now, after all
they are 45 years old now *grin*, and they say they do them because they
want you to feel better towards them. Would you not feel as though you had
already given up a precious gift in life out of your love for them and all
they want to do now is to perform little favors for you so they can extract
a quote, "feel better towards them" attitude for their years of tasks? That
would be diagnosed as the AAM Syndrome. All About Me Syndrome.

And of course the second option in the question proves only to be a clearer
more shallower version of the first, to do things so we can feel better
about ourselves. Isn't that what we run across others wanting to do for us
as, "poor blind persons"? I mean poor dears, they need my help and I will
come to their rescue because, well I'm just better off than they are and it
makes me feel sooooo good inside to help out.

As I looked at the reasons why I do something for God, such as music
ministry, it certainly isn't to make God feel better towards me for the
already stated reasons, and I suppose to a degree there is a personal
satisfaction of serving, to use what he has given me to his purpose and
glory and etc. and that brings a feel good feeling to be able to be used,
I'd be lying and crazy if I said differently, but that is an infant of the
parent motivation. I certainly do not do it either to become a rung higher
in a spiritual ladder in the church. Climbing that ladder your whole life
risks you getting to the top and realize you've had your ladder leaning
against the wrong building. Why do we love God? Because he first loved us,
because he put action to not only creating us, but he gave us a way out
time and time and time again. Indebtedness, obedience, gratefulness,
love  I would say is the reason for doing things for God. To please him not
for the sake for God feeling good about me, but God just being pleased in
himself. I suppose motivation of doing tasks for Christ is somewhat of a
process just as our relationship is. We come to Christ out of fear of where
we are at in eternity, you know, the consequences we face, and once we have
come to him we begin to mature and that fear we have is less of a horror or
terror but a fear based out of reverence, honor and glory, wanting to see
God pleased based out of a love relationship and not fear of being squashed
if we mess up. And of course we do get some satisfaction from it as well,
although that is something we pocket ourselves based upon our own
measurement of God's pleasure in what we do.

Sometimes we have to set back and consider things from a different
perspective. Our pastor from our Texas church exampled this in a story
which I'll retell. He had need to preach at a church a few hours away from
his home so he and his wife traveled up to the church preached  and then
found need to leave his wife there and head back to his home church. He
then needed to head back to pick up his wife and bring her back. Needless
to say after all this running he was tired. So he was traveling at night
and it was raining. He was quite far from where his wife was at and he was
beginning to question whether he was going to be able to stay awake.  The
rain beating on the windshield and the humming of the motor seemed to
mesmerize him even more. He tried all the tricks, talked to himself, sang
songs, slapped himself in the face, opened up the side window to let fresh
air blow on him but nonetheless a couple times he even nodded off and woke
up in time to grab the wheel wondering where the heck he was. But he needed
to get to his wife. So looking at this one would ask themselves, "Why
doesn't he phone his wife, tell  her he'll be a little late and pull over
to take a nap?" Well? He couldn't do that. He could not pull over. "Surely
there is somewhere to pull over, a drive way or something, it sure beats
risk running off the road or hitting someone!" you might be thinking. Well
no. He was flying his airplane. There was no place he could pull over and
had to stay awake until he got to the airport in the town where his wife
was staying. Not always do we allow ourselves to consider the full
background or meaning of a situation based on information we assumed to be
the whole and entire picture.

So I'll leave you with this  example of a question to examine as you go
through life...

If you were in a car accident, which of the two things would you first do?

A. Write down your recipe of Chocolate Pudding that has been in your family
for years in case you die?

or

B. Grab your cell phone and   notify the authorities that you just
remembered your purse was stolen at the store you just came from.


Brad

Brad

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