Delight or Duty

Someone suggested to me recently that we Christians may be sending false messages about our God because we are confused about duty and delight. Really? How would that send a wrong message about God? Think about this …

“Tragically most of us have been taught that duty, not delight,

is the way to glorify God.

We have not been taught that

delight in God is our duty.”

John Piper

God is glorified when we delight in Him?!? And God isn’t calling us to duty without delight.?!? That says a lot about who God is.

Duty can be done from afar.

Delight requires nearness.

And nearness is what Jesus came to offer us. Remember, He is Emmanuel – God with us. He came down to earth and “dwelt among us” so that we would be drawn into intimate relationship with Him. That is who our God is

A life of delight-less Christian duty is a lie about our God.

Now, telling the difference between duty and delight should be fairly easy.

DUTY posts signs like …

DELIGHT posts signs like …

But, I’m wondering which sign would I first associate with a call to deep faith? The chocolates?

Duty prepares for …

Delight prepares for …

Again, I’m wondering which of these would I first associate with a call to deep faith? The work tools or the delight?

As I’m clarifying terms in my head, I need to be able to imagine the reality of this: How does delighting in God play out in real life? How does glorifying God look differently if I am living in delight of Him than if I am living out my faith as merely doing my duty?

It struck me that the difference between a life of delight versus duty is vividly seen in Rahab’s faith narrative. Review her story HERE or see Joshua 2.

Rahab didn’t hide the spies because of duty. She wasn’t counted among God’s people because she stoically did what she had to do. She isn’t included in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11) because she gritted her teeth, rolled up her sleeves and robotically did what needed to be done.

Rahab’s story is not about duty. It’s about delight.

She is a heroine because God was her delight, her security, her all in all. She went all in when she chose to align herself with the God of Israel, trusting that He would do for her what He had done for His people as they left the bondage of Egypt. She trusted that He would give her freedom from her past and bring her into a new place, just as He had done for them.

She found her identity, not in who she was (her profession, her regrets, her history) or what she was doing to change that, but in who He is and because of what He had already done. She laid claim to a new allegiance because of what He promised, because of who He had demonstrated Himself to be. She delighted completely in Him as evidenced by her trust and courage and wisdom.

Rahab knew that she would be kept safe, not because of her work for God but, because of His work. She delighted in what she knew about God and indulged in His promises. She took deep drinks of His fresh water, anticipating that He would satisfy her every need. She delighted in every. single. drop of Him – His goodness, faithfulness, power.

When I have a chance to trust Jesus, what is my response?

This is the face of DELIGHT

This is the face of DUTY

We have the same opportunities that Rahab had. He offers us chances to watch Him work out His plans, too. If we delight in Him, we will get it straight: We don’t work for God – to help him out, He works through us! His life flows through us as we delight in Him, as we love Him more than we love anything else.

As we go all in, without hedging our bets, to pursue knowing Him and embracing what He places in front of us, we do our duty of delighting in Him. It’ not drudgery. It’s dazzling!

This is the work of DUTY

This is the work of DELIGHT

Our task is not to work to transform our own lives; our task is to delight in Him, to love Him for what He has completely done.  Delighting in Him means we anticipate what He is unfolding, the work that He is doing. And if we delight in Him and love Him, we will have lives of obedience energized by that loving delight.

As a consequence, the Great Commission will be fulfilled – others will know we are His and that He is the Redeemer as He said. And the Spirit of God will draw them to delight in Him, too.

But we need to be careful. If we present our faith in Jesus as a behavior modification program, we do a grave injustice to the ones we offer Christianity to. If we say to them, “Do your duty. Put on these Christian behaviors, act in this way, make sure that you follow this script.” They will try Christianity out and find it unsatisfying and frustrating and will evaluate it as ineffective. They will become inoculated by the sampling of faith  rather than being totally infected by living faith. They will only know wearisome duty and that is not enough.

The Christian faith does not offer merely a rehab program; it offers a relationship with the Creator God – by trusting that the death of Jesus fully paid for our sin and satisfied the justice required by Holy God. “It is finished!” means that the debt has been paid, and the work necessary for transforming lives has been completed. The only duty left for us is to delight in God.

Delighting in God means:

Enjoy familiarity with the Father through His Word

Become saturated by authentic, meaningful conversations with Jesus

Soaking in the joy of His abiding presence even in small ordinary moments

Translating life through the lens of what adds to God’s reputation, what puts the spotlight on His character

Watching for the Holy Spirit to bring opportunities to echo His life into the lives of others

Psalm 37:4 is not a suggestion, but a command:

Delight yourself in the Lord and

He will give you the desires of your heart.