High Performance

There are a whole bunch of high performance Christians in our churches today...and that is not a good thing. When I think about high performance, a dragster comes to mind. Those vehicles are sleek, they shine, people get impressed just by looking at them. When they start to move, there is smoke and fire and off they go. And boy do they go ... but for how long? A short distance and then they are done. Those sleek vehicles are not very good for a long race. They don’t have the inner capacity for the long haul. Unfortunately, the same is true for many believers. they look good on the outside, the do the right Christian things. Other Christians may be really impressed with their ‘service for the Kingdom,’ but they burn out and we all wonder what happened?

I think the problem is (and this is from personal experience) that we really don’t believe God loves us just like we are. So we have to perform to get His (or His people’s) approval. If we sacrifice, serve more, or have a regular quiet time maybe, just maybe God will like us more. If we shine up our outsides and burn ourselves out for Him, He will be pleased.

He is not pleased with you any more than he already is. God is love. That does not change.

Remember grace? Grace by which you were saved? Remember understanding that He loves you despite your sin? Remember He forgave you? Nothing has changed. If you are performing for God or for his people in order to impress them (By the way, you may be doing this without even knowing it...You will need to search your soul) Then JUST STOP IT!

Jesus wants us to be more like a well maintained Yugo than like a high performance dragster. Love motivates the service and the ‘doing’ not because we ‘have to.’ High Performance Christians tend to be miserable but High Grace Christians last because they rest in the never ending abundance of God’s grace. Jesus would like you to be around for the long journey knowing all the while He’s right there with you under the hood.