Love or Fear?

A stage adaptation from one of my favorite movies, "A Bronx Tale"...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCPhnYYh8y8&feature=related .

I got an email from my friend "CC" who meets with several men on a weekly basis with the intention of discipling them.  One of the men he meets with emailed him with a very interesting query.  He wanted to know what your motivation is after you accept Christ into your life, after losing the fear of eternal damnation.  I love his analogy here...

"Never pick a fight with a man who has nothing to loose.  He has no fear.  He is willing to go farther, risk more than you are.  He doesn't care if you leave him bleeding in the street to die.  He sees the fight as win/win despite the outcome."

As non-Christians he is exactly right.  We really have nothing to lose.  Since we really have no hope, we can go all out in the world.  As mature Christians I say he is exactly right.  We move into a realm of acceptance.  We no longer need to be driven by fear.  We have already won.  I refer back to my theory of "catch-up Christianity".  Just because we don't hit all our marks doesn't mean that we are under closer scrutiny.  We already have the promise of heaven.  

Then what is the motivation?  What keeps us on the straight and narrow?  Something that God put in us from the beginning.  Greed.  We want more.

Colossians 3:23-24 (New King James Version)

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for^[a] you serve the Lord Christ.

I think that we start our walk without a whole lot of enlightenment.  As the Spirit reveals more and more to us, our motivation changes.  Don't get me wrong.  I really want to be a part of that "forever sing-along-in-the-sky".  What I believe happens along the way is that we go from serving out of fear, to serving for reward, to serving out of love.  

The best example I can come up with for serving out of love is changing diapers.  I will tell you that I do NOT change the diapers of children who are not mine.  Quite honestly, I don't know what they put in so I don't know what's coming out.  Those of you who have or have had children are familiar with the "Six Wipe Diaper".  What is your motivation for changing that one?  Is it fear?  Most certainly not.  What can that little thing do to you?  Nothing really if you take out all the cutesy surface answers.  What is your reward for changing it?  A less smelly baby?  You could just go in the other room.  Not to hear it cry?  You could go outside.  You serve completely out of love.  You have such a feeling of devotion, connection, and love with this precious child that you just do the deed.  

And your love continues.  As you raise your child you continue to clean up those messes.  Sure they change form but still you serve.  And here is the difference.  You are not committed to "child rearing", rather you are devoted to helping your child become the best person you hope they could be.  You are serving them out of love.  That's all the motivation you need.

And that's what I believe happens in our Christian life.  We go from fearing God around the time of our salvation, to doing the deeds we know will earn us favor with God and get us past St. Peter.  (As an aside, I believe there is a sign as soon as you enter the gates of heaven that says either "The Chicken or "The Egg".  I think even God can get tired of answering the same question over and over again.)  And lastly, we come to serve out of love.  Hopefully we reach a place in our walk that our relationship with Christ has become so near and dear to us that is all the motivation we need to continue with daily Christian life.