Growing Beyond Obligation

A Powerful Transition

When new converts first come to Christ there is a transitional period of change between the old life and a new life in Christ. This can be a difficult period as many things which defined who a person was, ways they enjoyed spending their time, habits and behaviors all must be either reevaluated or replaced by something holy and wholesome. In truth, this process never really ends and lasts throughout the Christian walk, but its biggest impact should come at the time of conversion.

In this midst of all of this change, the new convert is also learning more about God, Christ, the church, and what is expected of them. In essence, the new convert is learning that there are many things he or she should be doing. However, at some point in the growing process, there is also a transition from that which someone should do for Christ, to that which someone naturally wants to do for Christ. This can be called “growing beyond obligation.” It can be seen in:

Worship

The worship service always has an element which benefits the body through edification and teaching one of another in song and teaching. However, the primary purpose of worship is to venerate God. To “grow beyond obligation” there is a change from going to worship solely because God wants you there to going to worship because you want to honor God.

Study

There is never an end to study in the Christian walk, as the Bible is a limitless resource of instruction and wisdom. In the beginning, however, there is much study that is needed simply to learn the basics of what Christ expects for your life. To “grow beyond obligation” there must be a change from the “milk” of what Christ expects to the “meat” of growing to not merely know what Christ expects but also to become who Christ needs you to be.

Fellowship

This is a term which is commonly associated with social activities of the church, which it does include. It is odd though that the general gatherings of the body of Christ are not commonly thought of as “fellowship”: the primary focus of morning worship, the Lord’s Supper, is exactly what “fellowship” describes (“fellowship” and “communion” mean the same thing!). To “grow beyond obligations” means not going because you feel obligated to be there (and this sometimes is seen as only during Sunday morning worship) to going because you want to join with your fellow Christians and fear that you will miss their encouragement and miss being an encouragement to them. This includes every opportunity for fellowship, meaning every time the body of Christ meets.

Changing Attitude

The truth is that each of these areas simply describe moving from an attitude that follows Christ’s command because one feels it is what they should (are obligated) to do, to an attitude that sees following Christ’s command not only as something they want to do, but as a privilege to be enjoyed. If you do not see a difference in these attitudes, maybe you have not yet grown beyond obligation.