MECHANICAL COMPLIANCE

DAY 233

An athlete may run with an aim to win because there is a prize to obtain at the end of the race. Likewise, a person may find courage to fight or flee when a dangerous situation is developing. Motivation can therefore be powered by external agents such as an imminent or future threat, or an expected benefit or reward.

This was the story of Israel: in their distress, they would call unto the Lord for assistance and God would raise up a Judge. They return to God only for a season because as we read “

But when the judge died, they would turn again and act worse than their fathers. They would follow other gods and serve them and worship them. They would not give up their sinful acts or their strong wills"(Judges 2:19)

That is what a dependence on external motivation does, it builds ‘mechanical compliance’. That never lasts. The alternative is to embrace motivation that is sponsored from the inside out. Paul wrote to the Ephesian church ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,(3:20).

The power of the Holy Spirit to transform any life, to remain ever burning and ever motivated is channelled from the inside out. We have to grow past becoming solely dependent on external motivation. We will become stagnated when it does not come.

#sly