Going Through the Motions

 

Ferris Wheels -- Going Through the Motions





 

One of my favorite songs is "Through the Motions" by Matthew West.  I'm intrigued by the song because it seems to capture the way so many Christians live out their lives.  I'm also sorry to say that I find myself sometimes "going through the motions" as well.  Here're the words of the chorus:

 

     I don't wanna go through the motions

     I don't wanna go one more day

     Without Your all consuming passion inside of me.

     I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

     "What if I had given everything,

     Instead of going through the motions?"

 

The three pictures of Ferris wheels above were -- coincidently -- taken in the fog.  It gives them a ghostly appearance - especially the first one where it was so foggy you can barely see the cars dangling from the giant wheel.  To me, the fog added an additional dimension to the whole message.  Not only do we too often just go round and round in life, we're also too often going through our motions with a dullness of mind and spirit and an unawareness of where we're heading, so that our life focus resembles walking through a fog.

 

Going through the motions in life is neither fulfilling nor particularly fun (and, I'm not talking about Ferris wheel's here!).  It's basically lazy, uninspiring and ultimately useless -- especially on a foggy day.

 

I want to be filled with an "all consuming passion" for God, His ways, and His will for my life.  That is fulfilling and inspiring for me -- and it will be for you too, if you try it.  After all, that's really the major reason God left us on this planet Earth after we were saved instead of whisking us right up to Heaven to be with Him.  He wants our passion for Him to shine through like a beacon in a dark world so that others might see Him in us and turn from the darkness too.

 

Paul reminds those of us who are saved:  "For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness" 1 Thessalonians 5:5.

 

There is joy and excitement and life in passion.  Being filled with a passion for God -- I promise you, it doesn't get any better than that!!

 

I certainly don't want to come to the end of my life and say, "What if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions?"

 

Photo note:  If you're curious about the Ferris wheel photos, here's where I took them:  (1) Along the boardwalk at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It was surprisingly foggy along the oceanfront for the entire day.  You literally could not see the ocean from the beach.  (2 & 3) an amusement park in Vienna, Austria.  #2 is a historic wheel built in 1897.