I’m Following Jesus Out of Duty, Not Delight. What Do I Do?
This was the question I addressed when I recently spoke at chapel for Biola University.
What do we do when we find ourselves going through the motion of Christian duty? We find ourselves trying to obey God’s commands because we’re supposed to. We try not to make it about ourselves because that’s the right answer. We know it shouldn’t be any other way in light of all that Jesus did for us. But what do we do when joy and delight have gone missing and we find ourselves operating out of obligation?
We’re invited to expand our Christian imagination and see beauty in duty.
Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century theologian, once articulated that “The good and the beautiful are really the same.…” In other words, something that is truly good, right and true will at the same time be beautiful, attractive, and wonderful.
This explains why we gaze at the sunrise. The rising sun, on the one hand, is a utilitarian “good” which helps humans survive. Yet, this functional sunrise is simultaneously breath-taking. We gaze and marvel over its goodness and beauty. They’re “really the same.”
But what could be more good, and therefore beautiful, than the Christian faith? The Christian faith doesn’t only properly function so as to provide light so we can see things as they truly are. It also provides the warmth and heat needed for flourishing at the deepest level. We simply need the eyes and the imagination to see what is actually there.
Here are at least two beauties embedded in Christian duty.
1. Beauty in the Privilege of Relationship
The Christian worldview tightly presses two identities together to create an amalgamation of awe and wonder for the Christian.
On the one hand, followers of Jesus consider themselves to be “slaves” or “bondservants” of God. Christians are bound to our master Jesus who has redeemed and purchased us at the costly price of His own death on the cross. We, therefore, do not live for ourselves nor should we expect any special recognition or praise for carrying out our Christian duties. We recognize we are “worthless servants” (Luke 17:10) who gratefully carry out our masters orders.
Yet, at the same time, we consider ourselves to be people of highest privilege because we have been adopted “sons of God” (Romans 8:14). The word “son” was intentionally used by 1st century Biblical authors (like Paul the Apostle) because they were using their Jewish cultural norm - in which the eldest son would receive significantly higher inheritance rights - to communicate our great privilege as those adopted. We share in the inheritance privileges of the future Kingdom, who will one day sit on His throne, as those marked by divine royalty.
Doesn’t this expanded imagination impact how we live out Christian duty? Doesn’t this theological vision motivate a Christian to serve as faithfully as possible? We must remind ourselves of the unthinkable privilege of relationship we have with God. We don’t just do things “slaving away” for our heavenly Father as the older prodigal son said accusingly. Relationship with God is our ultimate privilege and reward.
2. Beauty in the Power in Responsibility
We are tempted to think poorly of Christian duty because we can view duty through the lens of weakness and powerlessness.
“Duty means I’m not in charge.” “Duty means I have no authority in what I do.”
But this would be missing the forest for the trees in the larger vision of Christian duty. Fulfilling obligations is a surprising display of power. It displays the inherent image of God encoded in us revealing the presence of personal agency empowered by the Spirit. We see the power of God’s image at work through agency. We see the power of God’s Spirit at work in us.
Think about what is happening when you resist temptation and put to death the works of the flesh. Is that really evidence of powerlessness or is it in fact a demonstration of the Spirit’s power at work in you? Think about what you’re participating in when you bring order to that which was chaotic at work or the pile of dishes in your kitchen sink. Is that weakness or are you engaging in the cultural mandate laid out in Genesis to exercise dominion, bringing order out of chaos, as God does? What about when you serve in kids or student ministry as a volunteer. Are you just draining your time or energy or are you playing a part in altering the trajectory of someone’s eternity? Christian responsibility is embedded with the experience of power and strength.
Christian duty is filled with beauty. We need a larger imagination to see it.
If you’re not seeing beauty:
1. Ask God to help you see what’s truly there. In the very passage where Jesus speaks on Christian duty, the story begins with the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith. These two things are directly connected. Pray and ask God for help.
2. Ask yourself what’s really happening so you can re-imagine. The next time you’re doing something and it feels obligatory, ask yourself what kind of impact is actually being made. Invite your imagination to broaden reality.
3. Ask other Christians in the same trenches for their experience. It is humbling when another Christian lives with imagination in the area you operate with scarcity. Get around those people and let them share. It will humble and reignite a better perspective.
Beauty and duty are “really the same.”
