From today’s devo:

Jesus didn’t seek to do His Father’s will only from a sense of obligation. There was no drudgery in it. It wasn’t a matter of gritting His teeth and getting it done so He could go about His other business…

I think in the early (and possibly childhood) days of our Christian lives, this is what ‘seeking/desiring God’ meant. You did it because that’s what you were told. You read the bible, you prayed every night because you felt as a Christian, that’s what you were obligated to do (even more so when you are baptized).

But as that line above says, Jesus didn’t desire to do God’s will just because he was obligated to, and neither should we. If we understand the magnificence of God and what he has blessed us with, our desire to do God’s will; to live a life that glorifies Him, should come naturally out of love and reverence for God.

I pray that I can remind myself of that when life brings trouble (it’s hard I know, life sucks sometimes).

Daily devo today focused on Abraham’s story of fear, obedience and willingness from Genesis 22:1–18 where each time God calls on Abraham, Abraham replies saying “Here I am.”

As soon as I read the title of today’s devotion I was also reminded of Isaiah’s response when God called on him (Isaiah 6:8):

…”Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

I think if you ask a Christian what we would do if God called us or if God called us to do something we’d all say “yeah, I’ll do it (i.e. here I am etc. etc.).” But really, if it actually happened (or when it does happen) we might say something along the lines of “sure, later” or “sure, after I accomplish this” or “nah, are you crazy?!”

When I think about that kind of response (and I think that too sometimes) and reflect on the willingness and obedience of people like Abraham and Isaiah, I think: man, if we really thought about who we were talking to the way they did (i.e. the God of everything, who has power over everything and can smite us on the spot o__o), we would be doing it right away.

That said though, I do have to say, it’s not easy. Even more so for our media-enriched-short-attention-spanned generation than ever before. But I don’t think it’s impossible.

I pray that I can have that resolve and willingness to answer God’s call when I hear it.