The Motions

Ah, I love these days.

I love having the windows open; the fresh smell, the nice breeze, the low electric bill (relatively speaking, of course).

We've been spending lots of time outside, too. Doing schoolwork on the trampoline and in the treehouse is really motivating for my nature loving daughter!

So the other day, while we were adding fractions outside, Jacob kept wanting me to push him in the swing. I pushed him several times, but then I decided that maybe it was time that he learned to swing himself!

I told him how to do it. I got him started and then began chanting, "Out, in! Out, in!" trying to correspond with his swinging motion. He obediently stuck his legs out and pulled them in when he was supposed to. But was he swinging himself?

No.

He was moving his legs out and in, but that alone was not working. He wasn't doing what was really required to pull himself back and forth. He didn't have the power. He was simply going through the motions.

Sound familiar?

Sometimes people go through the motions too. Go to church. Pray. Read Christian literature. Do good deeds.

But we're not robots. God desires genuine fellowship with us. He created us in His own image, so that we could have relationship with Him as our Father.

Jake was getting nowhere by only going through the motions. Neither will you. It may satisfy for a while, and make you feel like you are on the right track, but eventually you will wear out, because you are not drawing from the real Source of Strength.

We don't have to settle for the motions, because the same Power which spoke the universe into existence is available to us! The same Power which defeated death and brought everlasting life to mankind is available to us!

Going through the motions--trying to follow Christ without having a real relationship with Him--is fruitless.

I could go on and on about the different implications of this, but for now, this is where I'll leave it. Just something to think about...