Is It Wrong to be a Christian out of Obligation?

SANTOSO · Nov 2, 2020

It is not wrong to serve God. To serve God, you must serve Him with gladness. To serve God, you need to serve Him in the strength that He supplies. In that way, you glorify not yourself but God who works mightily in you and you glorify Him because God gives grace us to whom He has called us into eternal glory in union with Christ.

To follow God is not wrong because we are called to obedience to God’s words.
But you must understand to follow God, it means to you have to deny yourself,
take the cross and follow Jesus Christ.

Eventually, you will realize to serve and follow God out of obligation and that you have relied on your strength not on God’s strength. You will find it impossible to do that.

Silly Uncle Wayne · Nov 2, 2020

Not really, if that obligation is to Go. If it is to other people (i.e. trying to please other people(, then it is definitely like filthy rags.

You should be wary of a works based gospel, however. Your faith should be the prime motivator, not the works themselves.

Dave L · Nov 2, 2020

“And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” John 6:65–66 (KJV 1900)

KisKatte · Nov 2, 2020

out of duty is a good start to begin with in my opinion. But this is only the beginning. God's mercy can showup some day and then this cross maybe out of burden! So remember God is loving you and can change your heart so you will willingly wanting to act and feel in love, and this burden will be another than forcing yourself. I wish I would be so noble to begin my journey with duty. I was so lazy and out of self control that I would not want to hear about any duty

. God reached me anyway.

KisKatte · Nov 2, 2020

I can give another input. Sometimes God stops us from sinning by making us FEAR. But the experience of the church ist, what I heard, that it only BEGINS with fear. After learning fearing God, God's mercy will show up and you will love God more than you could ever imagine. Maybe this duty thing is only the beginning. I too went through a lot of struggles towards joining church and trying to establish a relationship with God. The near God is the more fearing and burden seemed to be.... but from time to time I now feel His grace over me. And sometimes it even feels like I could be able to love Jesus. I am still on the way. The most important prayer is to pray every day "Jesus have mercy on me sinner" or something like that and you could also ask Him to change your heart to give you the blessings of the Holy Spirit, to calm you, to wash your tears of. This is grounded in the belief that God is allmercyfull. You should try it out.

fhansen · Nov 2, 2020

The more faith is "exercised", the longer we walk with God, remaining in Him, living and acting as if He exists, first of all, taking our needs to Him in prayer, hearing and heeding His word, responding to His grace as He prompts us to do His will, placing truth and love above all other desires, etc., the more He changes us, and convicts us more deeply, grace leading to more grace as the virtues of faith, hope, and love grow.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Heb 11:6

Maria Billingsley · Nov 2, 2020

Welcome ! God knows your heart so no matter how many of us answer your question, it is He who knows if you love Him with all your heart, soul and mind. Be blessed,

NBB · Nov 2, 2020

When i was little i dreamed of being in adventures like in some movies i saw, and i felt bad because my life was not that exciting, but i tell you God has better stuff than the best the world has to offer, sometimes we just need to insist in following God and keep praying.
Also serving God can be one of the most motivating things ever, i think you ignore the Holy spirit, there is nothing boring or something to not like about him.

Gregory Thompson · Nov 2, 2020

It might be missing the mark since the life we life is a living sacrifice and God loves a cheerful giver. The world obligation tends to preclude the joyfulness.

Cis.jd · Nov 2, 2020

IMO, it is wrong because your faith is fake.

Faith in Christ isn't out of being a robot, it's a spiritual relationship so there has to be something felt from it.

A simple analogy is like that of a fixed marriage. If you where forced to be with someone because you have to, is it really love? The fact that you are forced to be in relations (either by someone or yourself) with this person, is it really a relationship?

Bruce Leiter · Nov 2, 2020

Yes, it's wrong. As God's children, he has given us the new birth that has given us a beginning desire to follow his will because we love him.

If you pray to God the Father through Jesus, confess your sense of obligation and ask his forgiveness. Keep doing that prayer until he gives you his peace and that desire. At the same time, pray persistently for God's miracle of the new birth and true faith as his adopted child.

Brother_Kane · Nov 2, 2020

I know a lot of people do what's right out of a desire in their heart. Like reading the Bible. I just praying that one day it'll just click. I'll go back to my days when I first started my walk with God and genuinely want to seek the Word of God. I want the joy of my salvation back. I do think im slowing gaining it back though. God has been helping me a lot. All I can say you should do is pray.

Jaedan · Nov 2, 2020

Well said,

I do agree, My faith is probably fake.

I think that I just need to try harder I guess. Over the years, I have never "felt" anything from my (so-called) relationship with God. So I'm obviously doing something inadequately wrong

sunshineforJesus · Nov 2, 2020

Its not wrong per se to serve God out of obligation because you are serving after all,
but once you truly fall in love with Jesus you will find yourself wanting to do things to serve him out of Love.

Joined2krist · Nov 3, 2020

Since genuine faith comes by hearing the word, let me encourage you to study the word of God daily and to listen to inspired Preachers, also attend church regularly. If you do these things while prayerfully asking God to soften your heart towards Him as advised by the Hebrew writer, your faith in God will become real, God bless

Sabertooth · Nov 3, 2020

@Jaedan, does this advice sound familiar?

Silly Uncle Wayne · Nov 3, 2020

Not a particularly good analogy as the marriages talked about in the Bible ("Husbands love your wives...") were mostly arranged.

Love is an obligation of marriage.

fhansen · Nov 3, 2020

Faith is meant to lead from the head to the heart, from fear to love. As we come to know God, then we do what we ought to do because we want to do it. And sometimes this doesn’t begin to happen until there’s some kind of real need in our lives, that prompts us to seek Him. But seeking Him, and asking, and knocking is what it’s all about. As we draw near to God He’ll draw near to us.

GDL · Nov 3, 2020

What are you looking for?

Why is your faith fake - because you don't feel something? Who told you that it's imperative that faith feels something?

Faith, foundationally, is a belief that Jesus is the Christ. Read Psalm 2 and see a bit of who Christ is. Do you think we're all obligated to do what He says because of who & what He is or because of how we feel?

Read Acts 13:16-41 where Paul presents a more comprehensive Gospel, including pointing us to Psalm 2 and the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Davidic King. Where do you see him say something about what you're supposed to feel?

What about this being we call "God" - the One who created all things, including us - the One who owns all things - the One to whom all knees shall bow - don't you think that just by who He is, we should be thankful to Him & submitted to Him? Why do some call Him, Lord, and not do what He says & think they believe in Him just because they feel something?

Why are you trying to find a feeling? Feelings come & go & all of us feel different things. It's not about what we feel, but about what we believe & do. Let those who feel things feel things. Build upon what you have. Study God's Word. Learn from those who do. Learn from God's Spirit. Be influenced by what God says in His Word.

You don't need to try harder to feel something & there's nothing wrong with building from a sense of obligation.

Where do you see a feeling in this explanation of Love written by Paul?:

NKJ 1 Cor. 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is primarily what what one does, not what one feels.

God says your love for Him is doing what He says:

NKJ 1 John. 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

NKJ John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me (Jesus Christ). And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Note how God commanded Israel to Love Him. Do you think He's commanding a feeling, or that this commanded Love has something to do with obeying, keeping & handing down all the commands He gave them about how to live?:

NKJ Deut. 6:4-9 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

What do you know & believe about Jesus Christ?

What do you know & believe about God?

Love is primarily a loyalty. And our loyalty is to the Lord God we believe in.

With feeling, today I feel one way, tomorrow I have a stomach ache. Today I feel love, tomorrow I fell out of love & move on. Sounds worldly to me, especially based upon my study of His Word.

Start with Faith-Obedience. Your belief that Jesus is the Christ to whom all knees shall bow is Faith-Obedience. Know what our God & Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ have done for us and require of us. Pray to Him to develop all of you. It'll come as He determines & as you continue to pursue Him........

It's called Faith-Obedience, not feeling.

Greg J. · Nov 3, 2020

I like this question because there are so many facets to an answer. I wish I could spend more time on it.

The simple answer is, not in the least! It's great! The NT, especially Jesus Himself, talks about serving with genuine love from your heart.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30, 1984 NIV)
(Do not miss the word all used 4 times.)

At the same time it teaches that it is impossible to do on your own.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5, 1984 NIV)

Sanctification is the process where God makes you more like Jesus in your heart. It is something that God has to do for you. The main thing you need for this is to abide in Christ (John 15:4). The second thing is to obey Jesus. God rewards humble obedience enormously. (There is also rebellious obedience, which can be fleeting and disappear, never really having a element of a desire to obey, but the Lord rewards this, too. But such a person will have to have had made a 100% firm commitment to the Lord eventually or be lost.)

Most Christians start their spiritual journey by "doing what they're supposed to do," rather than are suddenly filled with a knowledge and love of God. (This points to the importance of self-discipline which empowers you to obey if you choose to.) Perhaps more importantly, until we go to see the Lord, there will always be a component of this in all of us. No one achieves perfect love of God in this life, and no one even gets close unless the Lord chooses to grant it to you (you can ask).

Unfortunately, the original question points to one of the big historical and ever-present problems in the church. Obeying the Lord's commands is sometimes exalted (legalism) over the exploration of loving/not loving the Lord Jesus (sometimes referred to as the "personal relationship" with the Lord). This pushes people toward a legalistic mentality about God and His commands, and the error that if you are obedient, you are saved (which is false). Obeying the Lord is something that a human can do, and so some people try. But it has no direct spiritual benefit. It can, however, pave the way to loving the Lord and sustain an environment of acceptance for others trying to obey the Lord (like in Philippians 1:15-18). It is what this verse is referring to:

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6, 1984 NIV)

Is It Wrong to be a Christian out of Obligation?

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