I found this very helpful from Tim Chester’s blog on prayer. I’m feeling a distinct lack of ‘fire in my belly’ at the moment. It could just be I’m tired. But it always concerns me. What should I do? Certainly not give up! But perhaps what Tim says about faith can apply not only to our approach to prayer meetings but to the rest of life. Out of faith I do my duty in loving God and loving his people – faith that it will lead to joy as I know it does.
“… As is so often the case, I’ve found my heart sinking when it has been time to go to another prayer meeting. I’ve dragged myself out through duty. But each time I then found great encouragement and joy in praying with others. I think this is an important thing to realise about the Christian life. If it is a life of joy, why do we need so often to act out of duty and self-discipline? The answer is, I think, that it is through duty and discipline that we discover, or rediscover, the joy. Duty, then, becomes an act of faith. I act out of duty because by faith I believe it will lead to joy – joy here on earth and joy in heaven.”
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April 29, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Ash Ghinn
Having attended more than 10,000 religious meetings – motivated chiefly by duty, I’ve lived much of my life struggling to work out when to say “no” (or “yes”) to something regarded as a duty. That Tim Chester quote is helpful, but as you say Michael, this challenge affects our whole lives.
After many years of freedom from the religion that dominated my past, (where football was a sin if there was a prayer meeting to attend) I feel pretty free from those old obligations.
But my daily life still seems to be full of pendulum swings: Half the time I seem to be trying doing something to be seen by others or to make myself feel benevolent, generous, good-natured, etc. The other half is spent justifying my indifference, self-indulgence or resentment so that I can avoid risking ridicule, getting my hands dirty, loving a stranger, a friend or an enemy.
Oh for more “fire in my belly”!