Commitment vs. Routine

‘And so the Lord says, “These people say they are Mine. They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And their worship of Me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote’ Isa.29:13.

God wants us to be committed in everything we do. He wants us to be committed to Him, to our family, to our jobs, our relationships and career because without commitment we cannot grow. Yet when commitment is done in a such way that it has no meaning anymore, it becomes just a routine.  For instance, a lot of people today know how to recite the words in Lord’s Prayer yet it has no meaning to them. When we know how to pray and forget why we are praying, the prayer becomes useless. Don’t get me wrong, routine is not bad. In fact routine has and will save your life. For instance the routine of brushing your teeth will save you from visiting the dentist. While routine is good, when we lose sight of the purpose it becomes useless. The routine of tithing for example will deliver you financially. You know how to tithe which means giving God 10% of your income. You know where to tithe which is to your local Church. But if you forget the ‘why’ of tithing, you have missed the whole point altogether. The ‘why’ of tithing is honoring God. There is a required routine for every result that we seek. If you want to see results in your finances, academics and in our walk with God, you have to identify the required routine for success. However, we must know how to navigate routines. Mark Bateson says ‘one of the greatest dangers we face spiritually is learning how and forgetting why’. I stumbled upon a research that shows that after singing a song about 30 times, you stop thinking about the words of the song. When you apply this knowledge to worshipping, it is very dangerous because in worship songs must come from your heart and you must mean the words. If the songs mean nothing in the place of worship then it is useless and does not glorify God [Psa.96:1]. God wants us to have meaning in our worship. Routine which is meant to strengthen our commitments can kill us spiritually when we become legalistic about it. The Pharisees knew how to pray but their problem was they had forgotten why they are praying. Never forget ‘why’ when it comes to the things of God.

Prayer: Father, please let me not become familiar with You. Lord Jesus, that You will be new to me every day. And in Your presence my commitment will grow daily, in Jesus Name.