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Several years ago, long before children were required to be in car seats, a mother was having trouble with her young daughter staying seated and in her seat belt. The little girl, like most children of that time, wanted to stand up and see where she was going. The mother repeatedly told her daughter to “sit down and buckle up!” The daughter became rebellious, and continued to stand up in the seat while her mom was driving. Finally, the mother pulled over and threatened the little girl with something she could not resist. But, as she reluctantly sat down, the little girl defiantly said, “I may be sitting down, but in my mind I’m still standing!”
I’m afraid many Christians are like the little girl. They feel forced to do God’s will, when in their hearts, if they had their way, they would do something else. They feel compelled; they feel obligated; they feel it’s their duty to obey God. In other words, they feel driven to do God’s will because of the guilt of their sin and the desire for forgiveness instead of being drawn to do God’s will as a response to His love and grace. They are obedient but not surrendered. Think of the difference between cowboys driving cattle and a shepherd leading his sheep (John 10). While there are times we will need to obey God’s will even when our hearts are not in it, being drawn to follow God’s way is always better than being driven to follow God.
Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). That’s exactly what happened in Acts 2. The preaching of the cross (2:22-24) so stirred the hearts of the crowd that they had to ask how they could be saved (2:36-37). Their hearts were pierced by the preaching of the cross, and they were drawn to surrender to Jesus as Lord and Christ. Yes, they wanted the forgiveness that came through baptism (Acts 2:38), but they wanted more than that. They were drawn by Jesus into changing their whole lives, as evidenced by being devoted to following God (Acts 2:42) and being devoted to each other (Acts 2:43-47).
There is a world of difference between being driven by fear and guilt and being drawn by love and grace. Fear of consequences may force a little girl to sit down in her seat, and it may drive a person to seek forgiveness from God, but responding to fear and guilt alone rarely changes the rebellion in a person’s heart. That may be a necessary place for some to start, but somewhere in our spiritual journey our hearts need to grow deeper than the external pressures of conformity into the transformational draw of a renewed mind (Rom. 12:2). A spiritually mature Christian grows beyond duty to desire, beyond obligation to longing, beyond strict obedience to total surrender. It is difficult to remain faithful to God if our hearts are driven only by fear; it’s difficult to fall away if our hearts are drawn by Jesus’ love.