Letters of Paul: 30-Day Reading PlanSample

Awe Is the Best Motivation for Action

Have you ever tried to collect payment from a dead man? It’s nearly impossible. Unless someone steps in to cover the bill, you’re out whatever you were owed.

Spiritually speaking, that is our condition before we meet Jesus. There is a sin debt to be paid, but we cannot pay it because we are dead.

To pay off our debt, we’d have to be able to work. And that’s a problem because dead people cannot work. Even if dead people could work, what we’d earn wouldn’t be sufficient for the debt we owe. Even if we had something of worth to give — which we don’t — it wouldn’t matter because dead people cannot pay their bills.

Before Jesus, we’re spiritually bankrupt with no way out. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4).

God loved us so much He sent Jesus to pay our debt and bring us back to life. Think about that: Not only are we debt free, but we’ve also been given the opportunity to enjoy our newfound freedom.

Just getting us out of debt would have been a big deal, but God goes one step further. He gives us a new life, so we can do all the good things He planned for us before sin entered the world (Ephesians 2:9-10).

That means that the things we do for God we don’t do to earn favor from God. We do things for God because we’ve received favor from Him! The awe that led David to pen these words is the same awe that leads us to serve.

“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:4-5).

We work, serve, and give, not because we are trying to be made right with God but in response to what God has already done for us. Serving and giving is what happens when gratitude and worship overflow into action.

Reflect:

• Think about some of the things you do “for God.” What motivates your serving and giving?
  
• What do you love about God? Take a few minutes today to sit in awe of who He is and what He’s done for you.