Christian Duty

Imagine if a husband says this to his wife: “As your husband, I feel it is my duty to spend some time with you—so I would like to take you out for dinner.”

Most likely, the wife would reply: “That’s okay…I think I’ll just stay home and have a bowl of cereal.”

Most of us consider anything done out of a sense of duty as disingenuous. We want relationships based on love, not on obligation. To have relationships in which we feel privileged to be with others, to get to know them, to serve them—this is an uncommon blessing.  

There are a few things I do, because I feel I ought to do them. I have no desire to carry out these responsibilities. Yet, since I feel bound by certain cultural mores, I half-heartedly go through the motions.

Moral obligations based on my own code of conduct have an even stronger influence on me. Keeping commitments, being faithful, being open and honest, speaking up for those who are oppressed, and helping those who are less fortunate—these principles shape my behavior, even when love is not present.

Closely related to these moral and ethical obligations is the concept of religious duty.

We have a Christian duty to…

Whatever comes after that phrase is all wrong. God desires us to act out of love, as He does. He doesn’t want us to pray, or read the Bible, or go to church, or follow all the rules, because we think we should. He doesn’t want us to have an obligatory relationship with Him. Instead He wants us to desire to be with Him, to know Him, and to please Him.