Performance Orientation

I find it ironic that ­the one time I come to EPIC and lead, that this be the subject of discussion.

I am literally the worst at this.

The story comes from Luke 10:38-42, and guys, I am Martha.

I have long believed that one’s success is the product of their personal work ethic, diligence, and effort. I believe my work is a reflection of who I am, and my service is my work, my 'act of worship' towards God.
I’ve been trained and molded into this method of thought, and I value and treasure my work, my grades, and my performance. I am the overachiever, the try-hard, the one who works too much. Plus, the overall Asian mindset of service out of duty drives a lot of my actions. So this predictably and easily translates into a very legalistic and performance-based view of Christianity. Too often I spend more time asking "God what do I need to do, what am I doing wrong" and neglecting to say "God, I just want your presence in my life, thank you for what you've done.".

MARTHA!!

The thing about Christianity, the thing about the message of the gospel, is that there’s nothing we can do. Everything's already been done.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

The whole point of the gospel is to show us how our performance, and even our service, however worthwhile and however notable, doesn't make us right with Christ. Our service doesn't make us "good Christians". Because we are broken, imperfect people, with truly no hope apart from Jesus.

But where do we go from there?

How do we balance “doing things” for God vs. having no works?

Do we need to balance that? Is there a balance? What's the balance?
How should we then, approach things like prayer, worship, reading the bible, serving the church, helping in ministry, etc.? How can we keep from being 'distracted' and doing things out of a performance mentality?

Ultimately, the question is, do we serve out of "obedience" or out of love? Everything we do should be driven by God's love for us and consequently our love for Him, and for others. There's a lot to say about this but I'll close with this:

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Praise the Lord for His unconditional and grace-filled love for us.

10.07.16
senior day #51