Two weeks ago I was driving home on my hour and a half commute, dreading what awaited to greet me upon arrival at my driveway. A wet, heavy snow had been falling for much of the night before and had continued mercilessly throughout the day. To make matters worse, my ancient snow blower which had gone on the fritz last season was still out of commission. "So much for curling up in front of the fireplace with a good book," I thought. What remained of my evening would be spent in the bitter cold, pushing and heaving, pushing and heaving, occasionally interrupted by brief pauses to rub my aching back. "Looks like an Ibuprofen night for me." I muttered to myself. "I'm gonna need the maximum dosage after dealing with this mess." Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to the chore.
Imagine my joy and amazement when I turned onto our street and my eyes fell upon my driveway, incredibly free of snow! "Could that really be my driveway?!" "And could that really be my son standing there in my driveway, holding my snow shovel, tossing the last bit of snow into the yard?!" Yes, it was! My evening was not to be a miserable ordeal after all.
Now, it must be said that he hadn't done a perfect job. There were a few areas he missed. The path he shoveled from the road to the garage was about two feet narrower than it should have been. But that didn't matter to me. In my mind, he couldn't have pleased me more had he brought in a Zamboni and cleared the entire yard! My son had shoveled that driveway without being asked, of his own free will, and that fact alone qualified his work as pretty near perfect in my book.
What could possibly have motivated this strange behavior? This wasn't among the chores I had given him. And believe me, he had plenty of his own to deal with. He couldn't have done it in hopes of getting something for the effort. Both our children know we don't play that game. So what could possibly have motivated him to pick up the shovel? Could it be that he knew how much I would be pleased...how happy it would make me? Could it be he was responding out of gratitude for all that I had done for him in his short life? Nahh...couldn't be...could it? If it was, and I do believe it was, man, was it ever effective. I, and my 45 year old back, were not only pleased, but absolutely elated with him that evening. My boy had made his dad proud. The Ibuprofen bottle would stay in the cupboard for some other day.
In 1 John 4:15 - 18 we read: "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."
You know, from a human perspective, we do so many things in this life motivated out of fear, don't we? We pay our taxes so Uncle Sam doesn't come after us. We drive the speed limit so we don't get a ticket. We fill our cupboards with supplements and pills so we don't get old or die before our time. There no end to the fears that can torment us in this world: Death, taxes, rejection, failure, vast right wing conspiracies, left wing lunacy, teenage children with credit cards, ...you fill in the blanks...the list could go on and on. I just can't believe the Father intended His relationship with us to be among the things on that list, can you?
Of course our heavenly Father wants and expects obedience from us. But He doesn't want it motivated by fear, compulsion or a quid pro quo. He wants us to obey because our hearts are set on returning the love He has so freely given us. He wants a response of the heart. When we are motivated by a heartfelt gratitude for all that He has done for us; for saving us when we couldn't save ourselves; for bringing us into His family; that is when, I believe, we bring Him the most joy.
After all, isn't that what abiding in His love is really all about? His love in us, filling us, assuring us of our place in His Family, enabling us to have bold confidence to come to Him, knowing that, despite our frailties, despite our weaknesses and imperfections, despite not having done a perfect job of shoveling the driveway, He is pleased with us. Isn't it knowing that we are accepted and secure in His love?
It's the heart behind the effort, not the perfect result of the effort, that makes our Dad proud. And that's motivation enough for anyone.
You know, from a human perspective, we do so many things in this life motivated out of fear, don't we? We pay our taxes so Uncle Sam doesn't come after us. We drive the speed limit so we don't get a ticket. We fill our cupboards with supplements and pills so we don't get old or die before our time. There no end to the fears that can torment us in this world: Death, taxes, rejection, failure, vast right wing conspiracies, left wing lunacy, teenage children with credit cards, ...you fill in the blanks...the list could go on and on. I just can't believe the Father intended His relationship with us to be among the things on that list, can you?
Of course our heavenly Father wants and expects obedience from us. But He doesn't want it motivated by fear, compulsion or a quid pro quo. He wants us to obey because our hearts are set on returning the love He has so freely given us. He wants a response of the heart. When we are motivated by a heartfelt gratitude for all that He has done for us; for saving us when we couldn't save ourselves; for bringing us into His family; that is when, I believe, we bring Him the most joy.
After all, isn't that what abiding in His love is really all about? His love in us, filling us, assuring us of our place in His Family, enabling us to have bold confidence to come to Him, knowing that, despite our frailties, despite our weaknesses and imperfections, despite not having done a perfect job of shoveling the driveway, He is pleased with us. Isn't it knowing that we are accepted and secure in His love?
It's the heart behind the effort, not the perfect result of the effort, that makes our Dad proud. And that's motivation enough for anyone.