On Obedience and Performance

Yesterday I read an article from Francis Kong. I knew him from his radio-segment Bussines Matters. I found his article witty and fresh so if you wan to check it out heres the address :http://www.businessmatters.org/

One of his articles, speaks about the difference between obedience and performance and he quoted some of Max Lucado's opinion bout these two. Here it is:

• Obedience is seeking God with your whole heart.
• Performance is having a quiet time because you'll feel guilty if you don't.
• Obedience is finding ways to let the word of God dwell in you richly.
• Performance is quickly scanning a passage so you can check it off your Bible reading plan.
• Obedience is inviting guests to your home for dinner.
• Performance is feeling anxious about whether every detail of the meal will be perfect.
• Obedience is following God's prompting to start a small group, Bible study or relationship.
• Performance is reluctance to let anyone else lead the group because they might not do it as well as you would.
• Obedience is doing your best.
• Performance is wanting to be the best.
• Obedience is saying yes to whatever God asks of you.
• Performance is saying yes to whatever people ask of you.
• Obedience is following the prompting of God's spirit.
• Performance is following a list of man-made requirements.
• Obedience springs from a fear of God.
• Performance springs from a fear of failure.
• Obedience is letting the life speak out loud without the lips moving.
• Performance is all lips but the life clearly doesn’t show it.

Sometimes we perform in our service and walk with the Lord. The funny thing is we maybe are not aware that we are already performing. Probably, the one of the most common effect of performance is fatigue. We begin to get tired praying, tired teaching the Word of God or tired singing or dancing for the Lord. We begin to feel tired of the pressure of performance. You probably heard of this, "busy with the Kingdom but not with the King". That's exactly what happens to us when we perform. We begun to think that we are "over" serving God. But to think about it there is not such thing as "over" serving God because we are supposed to serve Him. We are supposed to give our hearts, time, treasure and everthing to Him. Probably that's why the Lord loves a cheerful giver because a cheerful giver of his/her time, treasure, talent and heart is not performing. The Lord want us to relax and enjoy serving Him instead of being pressured of serving Him. Last night in my room, I poured out myself to the Lord telling Him, "Lord, I don't want to perform. So please come to me." The presence of God in my devotion time makes a lot of the difference. I had a great time talking to the Lord. Somehow, I felt the Lord working inside of me. We have to continually ask, "Am I performing?". If our answer is yes, then that means we are sidetracked by the issues of life. We have to settle it with the Lord and be true to the Lord with the situation. God loves us and He wants us to enjoy the life that he has for us. He doesn't want us to be pressured. He wants us to take it easy and just serve Him just as we are. No need to perform. :)