Going through the motions...

You've heard the phrase, "Going through the motions" before right? It's when we're present in body but not in spirit. If you're anything like me you've gone through the motions at work, with your kids, with your spouse, with friends, in your daily time with God, with church. It's the thought of, "I know I have to do this but I'm not feeling it at all."

Our reasons for just going through the motions range from tiredness and emotion to being overwhelmed and uncertain of how to proceed. Sometimes we don't have the mental energy to really engage in what we're doing so we just put our heads down and plow through. Sometimes we're uncertain or fearful on how to proceed so we just keep doing what we've always done. Sometimes it feels easier to not even think about what we're doing but to just blindly do it....kind of like auto pilot. 

This is a dangerous approach to life in lots of areas but perhaps none more so than in our pursuit of Jesus. 

Thankfully God's Word has something to say on this relevant topic. The prophet Isaiah says it like this in Isaiah 29:13a (NASB), "Then the Lord said, “Because this people approaches Me with their words and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me..."
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Allow me to remind you of a few things today:

1. You're not unique. Yes, you are unique in God's eyes, there's no one else on the planet like you, you're special, etc. etc. But you're habit of just going through the motions isn't unique. God is more than aware of our struggle. It's not new. He's been dealing with humanity for thousands of years and He's seen it all before. Sometimes we allow the devil to convince us that what we're dealing with is unique and never been conquered by anyone else on the planet at any point in the history of the world. 

2. Because God has seen it in the past, we know that He is more than capable of loving you through it in the present. Notice that I said "through it" and not "in spite of it". God certainly understands those moments of our lives where we're physically exhausted, mentally overwhelmed, emotionally drained, weary and in need of just going through the motions for a few beats but that's not where we were created to live. Our hearts were created to be completely engaged in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our brains are wired to critically think through our faith and how to walk it out in everyday life.  Sometimes we allow ourselves to become convinced that God loves us "in spite of us". God does love us and meets us where we're at and at the same time desires that we increase in intimacy with Him. God is more than capable of seeing you through this dry season. 

Sometimes the feeling isn't there. Sometimes we're wiped out. We're tired. We're spent spiritually. God gets it. He's seen it before. He's capable. He's got this. He's got you. Push through and refuse to settle for a life of going through motions. Be encouraged and keep moving forward. 

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