Being thoughtful, careful, diligent, obedient, disciplined etc are all good and important things in themselves, not bad.
Though "obedience" can be legalistic and in fact often is, it does not have to be nor is it necessarily (true Love driven faithfulness/obedience is never legalistic).
The question is why are we diligent and obedient. What is our motive/reasonfor being diligent, careful and thoughtful etc?
1. To honor and bring attention to (glorify) God out of love and awe for him.
To say it simply, desiring and pursuing God's highest glory is our greatest good and joy.
The question is why are we diligent and obedient. What is our motive/reasonfor being diligent, careful and thoughtful etc?
Motive is the only difference between true God Honoring behavior and feigned legalistic "obedience." Otherwise on the surface we can't tell the difference; they can look exactly the same.
There can only be one of two reasons (motivations) for external obedience. Detecting the reason however, is not at all easy because we rarely know our own heart and the true motives behind our behavior.
And what are those reasons?
1. To honor and bring attention to (glorify) God out of love and awe for him.
2. To take care of myself.
Everything we do, is done for one of these two reasons
Mixed motives
We complicate things however because our motives are mixed (being mixed doesn't mean there is a third motive, it simply means these two can be intertwined. They are still distinct nevertheless). Rarely do we do anything with a pure (singleness of) motive. The question is which motive is primary i.e. leads/predominates.
Self interest, good or bad?
Plus desiring both things (God's honor and our best) in itself is not necessarily bad. It's ok and in fact normal for us to desire our best. Christ assumes self interest (not condemn it) when he tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves or care for (love) our wives as we care for our own body.
In fact the appeal of all the promises of God is to our best interest. The promise of eternal life is made to who? To me, to myself i.e. a promise is a direct appeal to my self interest. I want life, not death and so do you.
There is nothing wrong with our *wanting what is best for ourselves. Why would God appeal to it otherwise? It is no more wrong than it would be for God to want what's best for himself. Does God ever do anything that is ultimately against himself? It may appear so short term but never long-term.
Gods glory and our best are not at odds
The issue is how is our best achieved. Is it the fruit of honoring God (which is legitimate) or the result of our **direct and independent Pursuit of that best (which is not legitimate, since it involves trust in self as one's best provider instead of God who is; the only true provider and sustainer of all things)?
The ***mystery of life (life as God originally designed it to be) is that pursuing and experiencing God, is in fact the best thing we can do for ourselves.
Yet this is not the primary reason we are to pursue God. We pursue him simply because he's most glorious and worthy of our total pursuit. And because he is, our greatest joy is found in pursuing and knowing him. This is the "natural" (originally designed and intended) outcome of who God is and the way we are. To go contrary to this not only dishonors God, but is against us; our best interest and well being.
To say it simply, desiring and pursuing God's highest glory is our greatest good and joy.
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*For an engaging article by Kyle Strobel (Professor of Spiritual Formation at Talbot Seminary) on whether self love is valid or not click here
**If pursuing a specific objective is honoring to God then we can and are to pursue it with all the energy God gives us. In this instance this would be a direct pursuit of something but it is something that God has told us to pursue. And since it is, that direct pursuit is obedience to God and therefore also honoring to him. Some examples would be to "go and disciple all nations" or "love God with all our heart soul mind and strength." Faithful obedience/direct action is the only legitimate response to these directions.
**If pursuing a specific objective is honoring to God then we can and are to pursue it with all the energy God gives us. In this instance this would be a direct pursuit of something but it is something that God has told us to pursue. And since it is, that direct pursuit is obedience to God and therefore also honoring to him. Some examples would be to "go and disciple all nations" or "love God with all our heart soul mind and strength." Faithful obedience/direct action is the only legitimate response to these directions.
***it is a mystery in the sense that it goes contrary to our fallen nature and therefore is not obvious, but mysterious to us in our present fallen condition. Who we were designed to be and who we presently are (due to our fallen state of rebellion) are contrary to each other.
