In Love

Some little time ago, I began feeling more energetic than I've felt in a long time. I have always enjoyed jogging, but at this point, I almost had to jog, because by the end of the day I had so much energy I couldn't possibly have slept if I hadn't used a bunch of it.

It so happens that jogging also burns a lot of calories, which I considered to be a big plus, since I have ten pounds of flab that are far more attached to me than I am to them.

So I jogged, and how I loved it. I even jogged (and walked) to the bank one afternoon, which is a five-mile round trip. The ladies there were all agog that I had jogged that whole way. I said, in all honesty, that it wasn't that big of a deal, because I loved to run. I thought it was great. One of the girls there said she loved to eat, and while the others said that was different, in fact, it wasn't. I met a girl once who did not like to eat, and the poor thing had such low body fat that although she badly wanted a child, she couldn't conceive-because her body fat was too low, because she didn't like to eat. But if you like to eat, then there is no glory in eating, is there?

But how quickly this human nature can make any old thing into a law! Before you could say "howdy-do," I was aiming to jog not because I loved to jog and I had a lot of energy, but because I had to jog in order to lose weight. Next thing I knew, my energy level had dropped, and it was a struggle to run. Then I went three whole days without doing it, because I was so tired.

This morning the Lord turned a light on.

He wants me to do what I do because I love to do it. I cannot really explain this well, because I know there is a place for self-discipline. What I want to emphasize, however, is this: if I do something from self-discipline, I get the glory. I can't help but take the credit for whatever I do when I have forced myself to do it. This applies to anything and everything, from having and raising children to studying the Bible to praying to keeping a tidy house to being debt-free to succeeding at a particular occupation. Even if I started out liking what I was doing, if it has become a chore, an obligation, or something I am requiring of myself, I will take the credit. God won't get the glory, and that is, frankly, appropriate. What glory is there for Him in such a case? You are the one doing the work!

When I do it only for the love of doing it, the only one who can get any glory is the Lord: He is doing the work.

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