Sometimes I just don’t feel like seeking God. Sometimes, I just don’t feel like turning off the TV, turning off the computer, putting aside my cell phone, or even putting aside household chores, and the seemingly dozens of other things I need to get done. Sometimes, reading the Bible just doesn’t appeal to me. When I’m in this mood, I’m essentially telling myself, “Self, you would rather not be withdrawn from your state of comfort at this time. You really aren’t in the mood to pause your self-indulgent existence, and do something that is worshipful and reflective of your faith in God. You really aren’t in the mood to seek God, or hear from God.”

Sometimes, I go hours like this. Other times, I’ve gone days, weeks, months, and even years like this. What breaks the pattern varies. Sometimes, it’s a sermon I hear in church, sometimes it’s a conversation with a friend, sometimes it’s just my own frustration with my current state.

Earlier today, my wife and I watched a brief documentary about a young woman who ascended to being the top ranked high school basketball player in the nation, but upon arriving at a basketball powerhouse college with incredible fanfare, decided to quit basketball for good and transfer from the university. She’d experienced severe burnout from being extremely active in a sport that she’d lost passion for. Story is, since the 2^nd grade, she’d had the same personal trainer for basketball. But, since the age of 13, she’d lost her passion for the game. She got through her high school years by faking her passion for basketball out of the fear that she’d greatly disappoint her parents and others if they discovered the truth.

This story reminds me of how we can be in our relationship with God at times. Sometimes we just don’t feel like spending time with Him. Sometimes, God is simply not the object of our passion. But, out of the fear of disappointing Him or others, we force-feed ourselves. We go to church, we read our Bibles, we pray, we worship, we fellowship, but in the midst of doing these things, God is not our passion.

Such was the case with Israel around the 8th century BC.  The prophet Isaiah called them out about it when in Isaiah 29:13, he quotes God’s sentiments towards Israel at this time, “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.“

In Matthew 15:8, Jesus quotes this very passage when He describes the Pharisees as hypocrites, because they are going through religious motions, but lacking in true passion for God.

There’s something about having a real passion in you for Jesus. When you have this fire, you don’t just read your Bible because of tradition or because you feel obligated to by someone.  You read your Bible out of worship and out of desire for God.  The same goes for other spiritual disciplines.

I like how the author and theologian John Piper put it when he said, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.” In other words, God gets the most glory when He is what we are most passionate about.  When we seek God only because we fear disappointing Him, others, or ourselves, we miss the mark, because God is not most glorified not when we fear disappointing Him, but when we are most satisfied in Him.

Sure we ought to fear the Lord, reverence Him, and respect who He is, but fear must be a secondary motivator to love.

Think back for a minute about that basketball star who experienced burnout because she was motivated by fear rather than passion. She’d lost her passion, was going through the motions, and eventually gave up.  Surely,  God is not glorified in burnout.

Passion and delight in God must be our motivating force.  Such fire for God can only come from God.  By God’s grace, we are not helpless.  We can seek Him for this fire, and we can ask Him for it.

Are you motivated by fear (of disappointing God, others, or yourself)?  Or are you motivated by love and passion?

Lord, take us to the place where we seek You, not because we are primarily motivated by fear, but because we have fully internalized the grace to delight ourselves in You. We refuse to go through the motions.  Instead, we choose to perpetually delight ourselves in you.

Live the life.