"Have to" vs. "Get to" Christianity

Two necessary perspectives

Last weekend I had the privilege of preaching for a congregation in Ohio, and after a couple of the lessons discussion came up concerning how to reach disengaged members.

A number of good points were made around the room, but I want to focus on a particular one in this article:

We must present the Christian life as a privilege.

When people hear a call for higher commitment to the church and think, “do I have to?”—I.e. “do I have to come to Sunday night worship” or “do I have to do family devotionals” or “do I have to give up my Saturday for that church activity”—they’re missing the point.

That approach plays the same game the Rich Young Ruler played

“Just give me the list. Tell me what all I have to do and I’ll decide if I think the juice is worth the squeeze.” There is no sacrifice in that, though. And a Christianity with no sacrifice is no Christianity at all (Luke 9:23, Romans 12:1-2).

On the surface, when we say that Christianity requires sacrifice, that doesn’t sound like a “get to” kind of thing. But there are plenty of things we do that involve sacrifice, and we do them without a second thought out of love for the activity itself. Waking up at 5 for an early morning of golfing or fishing is a sacrifice… but it’s something we “get to do” because we love the result. It takes me two hours to make the occasional Chicago-style deep dish pizza… but it’s something I “get to do” because I and my family enjoy eating it. I’m sure you have plenty of examples of your own that also fit the bill.

In other words, we do these things because we realize the tradeoff is more than worth it. The benefit far outweighs the cost. This is what Paul meant in Philippians 3:7, counting all things but loss for the sake of gaining Christ. Whatever he had to cast aside, it didn’t matter at all, because he got Jesus in the transaction.

So, when it comes to commitment and sacrifice for Christ and His church, it’s important we learn to view it as a “get to” and focus on the blessings of serving Him with gratitude for all He’s done for us, gaining a closer walk with Him, helping others, and building bonds with our Christian family.

However…

“Have to” should not be discounted entirely. Sometimes the “get to” just isn’t clicking for us. Maybe we’re having an off day, or maybe the thing we know we have to do for God is one that appears to be a big challenge. In that moment, “have to” can get us by.

No, we as Christians should not live by “have to.” If our walk with God is nothing but “have to,” we’ve misunderstood His love and will soon burn out. But some days, it’s all we can do to just pull it together and do it because God said so, and because He is God and I am not.

That, too, is faithfulness, and I believe He blesses our commitment.

It’s like that saying, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Well, what if one day that job makes you take on a task you don’t love? That means it’s time to put in a day’s work. And that’s perfectly fine.

The beauty of this is, yielding ourselves to God to do His will when we don’t want to can be a clear path back to the “get to” mentality. Any time we do things God’s way, we can see how the command came from His love for us and for others. That should lead to gratitude, and a reminder as to why all of His commands are “get to” if our perspective is in the right place.

So…

For too many people, Christianity becomes a life of all “have to,” all the time—leading to either a minimalist faith or a burnout that drives them away from the Lord. When the opportunity to grow and do more presents itself, our love and gratitude for the one who saved us at awful cost should fill us with joy that we get to do something for Him.

And on the days where that zeal is weak, reminding ourselves that He is Lord and we are not recenters us in humility. God rewards that humility by giving us more of Himself, which is our greatest delight.

Everything He does is for His glory and for our ultimate good, and it’s a privilege to get to participate in His grand plan.

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