Tag Archives: going through the motions

August 27, 2025 · 5:46 AM

Presence Over Performance

We live in a culture that celebrates hustle, visibility and results. I worked for a company that placed a high value on those things as well. It became ingrained in me to say the right things, be seen by the right people and to produce the right results. It became a problem when those values seeped into my spiritual life. It can be easy to get into the habit of being performance driven instead of presence driven. What God values is different than the world. He’s not wowed by us going to the right church, doing the right ”Christian” things or going through the motions of performance if we aren’t truly honoring Him.

Isaiah 58 is a warning to Israel over doing just that. Verse 2 starts out, “They act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me” (NLT). He goes on to say that they fast, but they fight among themselves. They go through the motions of performance but lack humility. In verses 6-8 God says He’s looking for action over performance. He prefers justice, lightening the burdens of others, removing chains, helping the oppresed and helping the needy. When we do that we will receive His blessings.

Micah 6:6 says, “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Have you fallen into the trap of performance over presence? God wants us to do more than go through the motions of church. He’s wanting us to make a difference in the lives of others for His name’s sake. He wants us to spend time walking with Him, talking with Him and hearing His heart for a world that doesn’t value what He does. It’s not about acting like Christians, it’s being Christians. God doesn’t look on our outward performance the way man does. He looks at our heart instead. If you’re struggling with this, take time to be in His presence and ask Him to change your heart.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.

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October 18, 2022 · 5:54 AM

Contradicting Yourself

How does it make you feel when someone tells you they’re going to do one thing, and then do another? Or when they say they support you to your face, but behind your back they are against you? I’ve had that happen to me at work. It not only hurts, it makes you not trust that person. I was nominated to be on a certain council, but because I didn’t fit the mold, it had to be approved. This person was my biggest advocate outside the voting room. However, behind closed doors, they were my biggest opponent. Ultimately I withdrew my name because I no longer trusted this person. They never knew I found out and they kept up appearances as long as I knew them. Their words to me said one thing, but their actions proved another.

In 1 Samuel 15, Saul was king, and he had been instructed to kill all the Amalekites and their animals. After the battle, Saul decided to capture the king and keep the best of the animals for he and the army. God was upset with King Saul and sent Samuel to address the problem. When he got to the king, Saul was happy and said, “I have carried out the Lord’s command.” Samuel gave one of my favorite replies in the Bible when he asked, “Then what is this bleating of sheep I hear?” Saul made an excuse saying they were going to sacrifice them to the Kord, but that wasn’t true. Because he rejected the Lord’s commands, the Lord rejected him as king.

In Isaiah 29:13, 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” (NLT). God is not looking for lip service from us. He also not looking for us to go through the motions of serving Him. It’s easy to fall into that rut, and we all do at times, but God cares more about the condition of our heart than our outward actions. If you’ve been going through the motions lately, ask God to give you a heart of flesh and to renew a right spirit within you. You may be able to fool everyone else, but you can’t fool Him. Take some time today to check the condition of your heart. Does it line up with what you say? If they’re in contradiction, ask God to transform you from the inside out. His grace is sufficient to do it.

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

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October 9, 2013 · 7:53 AM

The Hiding Place

Do you ever feel like you’re just going through the motions in life? Maybe you had a bad experience and you found solace in routine. Maybe you moved away from the situation to start over and have been playing things safely ever since. Some people change careers, friends and who they are in order to not walk down that path again. It’s understandable, but at some point you have to get back to doing what you were made for and snap out of your hiding place.

That was the case with Moses too. He had discovered who he was and while trying to come to grips with it, made a costly mistake. When word got out, Moses ran from the situation. While running, he came to a well in Midian where he found his future wife and in laws. His career path changed from being in the Egyptian royal family to shepherd. He was running from where God had him and placed him as a child. He was playing it safe in his hiding place.

While he was content to be there, God wasn’t. He wasn’t fulfilling his purpose in the desert. He was running from it. While out tending the sheep in his mundane life, God met him in a way that got his attention. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush with a fire that didn’t consume it. There God called Moses to return to who he was created to be. Of course Moses gave every excuse he could think of to not go back. Life was easy and predictable in the routine he had found, but that’s not the kind of life God calls us to.

Moses decided to give up the mundane for the unpredictable. He chose to go with God’s way instead of his own. He left the security of his hiding place to trust in God’s provision. These were not easy choices to make. I imagine the fear and doubt that Moses must have gone through was overwhelming at times. It still took a lot of faith on his part to trust God and return to Egypt. It took guts to face his past and to willingly walk back. It was necessary because God had chosen him from the time he was a baby to set Israel free.

Now lets come back to you and me. Most of us can relate to some or all of this story. Some of us are running from God’s call on our lives. Some of us have taken refuge in the desert of life, hiding out as long as we can. All the while we know that our own burning bush experience is on it’s way. If you’re in that moment and you’re giving God push back, trust Him to lead you to the place only He can take you. If you’re on your way back to where you belong, take courage in knowing God is with you in your journey. Don’t give into fear.

God has a plan for your life that only you can fulfill. He’ll burn as many bushes as He needs to in order to get your attention. He’s not content to leave you in the desert hiding. He wants you back where you belong following the call He placed on your life. Today is the day to submit to that calling once again. It’s time to quit arguing and making excuses. Make the decision to get back to where He wants you. Leave a life of going through the motions behind and choose the adventure God has for you. You won’t regret it.

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