GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS

Have you ever started the car, driven to work or the mall and realized you don’t remember anything about the time between leaving your driveway and arriving at your destination.  I remember one time; I continued toward the mall, through a traffic light and about a block down the road, I realized I couldn’t tell you if the light was red or green.  It must have been green because no one honked, I didn’t get a ticket or have an accident, but I was so accustomed to driving a car and going to that specific location that I automatically went through the motions with no coherent thought to my surroundings.  There are so many routine things we do during our day in which we have become so proficient that we can perform them with expertise and little thought or as some would say “do them blindfolded.” Even our relationship with God can become a practice in just “going through the motions.”

If you have been a member of a church for any length of time, regardless of the denomination, you become an “expert” at “going through the motions.”  You know when to stand, sit or kneel; when to say “Amen” or other response; you can bow your head, raise your hands and clap at the appropriate time without consciously knowing what is being said, sang or prayed.  You speak “christianeze” and keep the smile pasted on just right without looking too “fake.” You have even mastered the art of encouraging others while evading probing questions and other's concerns.  You have become a Powerless, Professional Christian and sadly, you may not even realize how you arrived at this destination.

Samson, a judge of Israel found himself in this exact dilemma.  Samson was chosen and set apart for service to God from conception.  His mother was instructed to keep the Nazirite vow during her pregnancy and to raise Samson to adulthood, according to that vow.  I’m not sure when Samson started just “going through the motions,” fooling himself and everyone around him but eventually he became a Powerless, Professional Nazirite in Israel. 

One of the saddest verses in the Bible is in Judges 16.  Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman, Delilah, not realizing that she is being used as a tool to defeat him and the Israelites.  Delilah begs Samson 3 times to reveal the source of his strength and 3 times Samson lies and is able to defeat the Philistine men that attack him.  Finally, the 4th time, Delilah cajoles him into revealing the true source of his strength and Judges 16:19-20 reveals Samson’s true spiritual condition.  “Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” BUT HE DID NOT KNOW THAT THE LORD HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM.”  Samson had become so accustomed to his “station” in life that he wasn’t even aware that he had “run through the light” until the sirens sounded.

Perhaps, you have come to this point.  So many times you find yourself in a situation, you shake yourself and find just enough power to see you through this dilemma.  But what about the next and the next?  Unless you awaken out of the malaise that you have lulled yourself into, a situation will arise soon that you will not be able to “shake” free of.  Once the “Lord has departed,” no amount of professional “going through the motions” will be sufficient and like Samson, you may find yourself  blinded and bound.  Thankfully, Samson’s story doesn’t end at Judges 16:20.  Samson prayed, the power of God returned to him and in his death, he was able to defeat the Philistines.  The last word spoken of Samson in the Bible is found in Hebrews 11:32; he is listed as one of the “Heroes of Faith.”

The “last word” of your story is yet to be written.  There is still time to reconnect with the power source.  The “motions” can become powerful tools used by God to affect those around you.  You don’t have to die blinded and bound; powerless, at the hands of the Philistines.  It is God’s earnest desire to come upon you, not just one more time, but to dwell in you and fill you with power.  You have been called by God to a purpose from the moment of conception; focus on Jesus; listen to His voice and follow after Him.  Go when the light is green and stop when it is red.  God will lead you on to victory.