Morning Brew: Sunday, Oct 11

Do you do the right thing with a glad heart? I know that as Christians we’re taught to obey God. But there are many ways we can obey. We can obey on accident, doing the right thing without even knowing it. We can obey out of protest. We do what we need to do, but we’re not happy about it. We can obey out of fear. We obey simply because we’re afraid of the punishment that awaits if we don’t obey. The type of obedience God desires is when we obey with a glad and happy heart:

4 Since ancient times no one has heard,

    no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,

    who remember your ways. Isaiah 64:4-5

Paul reiterates this when he tells the Corinthian church that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). So this morning, do a heart check. How are you obeying God?

• with a prideful heart? (God’s lucky to have me on his team.)
• with a distracted heart? (I haven’t listened to God enough to hear his voice.)
• with an angry heart? (I’m obeying God, but I’m not happy about it.)
• with a fearful heart? (I’m obeying God simply because I don’t want to be punished.)
• with a glad heart? (I’m obeying God out of an overflow of my love for him.)

It’s not just what you do, it’s how you do it. You can still say “I love you” and make your child cry. Just yell that phrase as loud as you can with an angry face, and spew those words at your child in with enough decibels, and those words can make a child cry. It’s not just what you do, it’s how you do it.

Gut check time: are you obeying God with a glad heart? If not, how can you get back there?

QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION: How do you stay in a place of gladness and obedience? Share your thoughts to encourage others!