We don't need longer ropes

God isn't looking for us to serve him out of duty, but out of enthusiasm. How many times do we find ourselves caught up in 'service', but there is a total lack of enthusiasm behind it? In fact, it is more or less what we'd refer to as 'duty'. Passion is lacking. There is no real heartfelt commitment to the project ahead of us - it is performed by rote or meaningless repetitive action. A hard thing for me to learn is that we don't lose our passion or enthusiasm, we actually leave it. We walk away from our passion - not quickly, mind you, but little by little, subtly drifting away from the very thing that once ignited a great passion within us. Most of us don't need more of God in our lives - we just need to realize where there has been this subtle change in our focus.

Call out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Be glad as you serve the Lord. Come before Him with songs of joy. Know that the Lord is God. It is He Who made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His field. Go into His gates giving thanks and into His holy place with praise. Give thanks to Him. Honor His name. For the Lord is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. And He is faithful to all people and to all their children-to-come. (Psalm 100)

We have forgotten what it is like to actually 'go into his gates' because we have allowed ourselves the 'latitude' to skip a day here and there in our daily devotions. We have no idea just how many days it has been now, but we know we never intended for that separation to happen. We don't find ourselves moved by song any longer, tuning out even the memories of how much we were actually lifted in times of singing psalms and hymns of praise. We aren't calling out any longer, not because we have forgotten how, but perhaps because we are so used to just doing things on our own now that we don't even think God may have a different plan for us.

I rented a fishing boat last year with my grandsons in hopes of doing a little lake fishing. What I discovered is that unless the motor was actually on and we were moving in some fashion, the 'drift' of the boat would be toward shoreline. It took us away from the safety of the deeper waters and into the rocks and reeds without much effort at all. This is something we need to realize in our spiritual lives, as well. If we don't keep the motor running, drift will occur! You might ask me why I didn't put down anchor and just enjoy the fishing a while. I tried! The anchor didn't reach bottom, so the drift still occurred! There was an anchor onboard, but the 'line' wasn't long enough to keep us safe from the drift.

Passion isn't reignited in one magical moment in time and then it remains forevermore. Passion must be stoked! It must be guarded so that drift doesn't occur. Every now and again I had to rev the motor a little, carefully propelling the boat into deeper spaces again so that we'd be safe from the rocks and reeds. Every day we need to ensure our passion is fueled - not every now and again! We may have a good anchor in our faith, but if the line is too short to give the anchor good 'footing' to hold onto, drift is going to occur. We don't need longer ropes, friends. Just sayin!