July 30

Following after Christ in love is a lofty and lovely endeavor. There is no higher calling to which a person of faith may employ his gifts and resources. At the onset of faith, one is almost compelled to focus on the Lord, to spend himself in the behalf of the work of the Kingdom of Christ. This earnest desire wanes with time.

It is rather like a marriage, to which the life of faith is often compared in both the Old and the New Testaments. At the beginning of the relationship, both parties are desirous of pleasing the other and being devoted forever. But the intensity of passion lessens as time goes on. Being together becomes part of the routine.

Our relationship with the Lord can become routine. We go to church, we teach Sunday school, we’re elected to the board, but it’s all become a part of our routine—much like going to work every day. It’s become a necessary exercise in maintaining our way of life, but it has lost its initial excitement. To overcome this ‘ho-hum’ attitude, believers must employ the passion Jesus desired from His disciples when they followed Him into the garden to pray before His arrest and crucifixion.

In Matthew 26:41 He told them to, “…watch and pray that you enter not into temptation…” He added the caution that we, too, must heed, “…for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” When the joy we experienced initially in our salvation from sin has become the mundane exercise of one more responsibility, we will lose our zeal if we do not heed the Lord’s own formula of being vigilant to overcome the devices of the enemy and being prayerful in our fight against him, knowing only Jesus can overcome his wiles in our behalf and give us victory.