Me, Unplugged
May 12, 2009 // By: Bob Hamp // 4 Comments
“I need to write something today for bobhamp.com,” I thought. And then I had a funny feeling. A little weighty sensation, a tinge of dread or frustration. Weird; I love writing here. So, I turned my attention to that weird feeling. What was it? It was all rooted in that one word, “need”. You know, synonymous with “should”, “ought to” or “supposed to”.
It’s a funny but significant phenomena that happens in our soul when we sense obligation. It triggers us to respond out of a different part of us. We may still follow through, still perform exactly the same task. We may even smile when we do it. But the source, the root in our soul is somehow different, and as a result the ensuing process is somehow different.
I heard a good friend say the other day that when we function out of our identity, the thing we are made for, it triggers the release of certain hormones and we get a “legal buzz” from it. When the “obligation” response is triggered at the very least we lose that charge. At the worst we plant the seeds of future resentments.
I think this is what gets so many professional ministers in trouble. Suddenly our love affair with our creator becomes our job. Time sheets are distributed and ways to measure our performance are instituted. What begins as heartfelt passion becomes expected performance. It can happen to anyone. In fact, let’s consider for a moment the first time in recorded history that this happened.
Listen to the words of the serpent in the garden of Eden.
“…if you eat this (performance) then you will be (identity) like God.”
Wait just a fruit pickin’ minute here…at this time in history who was more like God than the ones created in His image? Did the sneaky snake just say that if you do a certain thing then you will be who you already are? This has been his ploy from the beginning. Loving and being loved by God causes us to act spontaneously from the core of who we are. We get a legal buzz. Switch to “if you will do” as the motivation and it makes our soul the source of our actions instead of His love. Subtle but deadly.
This subtle but deadly shift is at the root of the historical struggle between law and grace, and at the foundation of every dissolved marriage. When we act out of our identity we tap into an endless source. When we act out of “should”, “must”, “ought to”, etc. we run the risk of becoming our own finite source and eventually drying up.
Today, I wrote because I love it!!! I had to.
4 Comments
Very nice, Bob. Well put. Reminds me of the saying “Don’t should all over yourself” And is so true about the difference in the root and also in the vine when one acts from freedom versus obligation. ….Back to the Acrobat story…the farming was obligation for the acrobat, and the trapeeze was easy, because it was his identity. Great work, Bob, or should I say, great fun.
Dearest Bob, I started the Freedom series May 4th. That first week you taught me, I would be “Free to be me in the Lord”. It releaved a burden from many years of being told I was not good enough. May 4th turned me on! May 11th tuned me in. I had a healing in my right hand and a lifting in my spirit.
My hand is still a bit sore but I think the Father is keeping it there to remind me of his power watching and holding my daughter in his hands. The healing was such a blessing to her. I opened my first coke bottle in a year. Praise Father God!
“When we act out of “should”, “must”, “ought to”, etc. we run the risk of becoming our own finite source and eventually drying up.” Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm… Wow! Did I so need to read this; not because I live this way all the time, but because I DO live this way at times. I know that dry well, and it’s not the place to be when I need a drink. You relate this blog to pastoral “duties” [well, because that is part of your identity] but your words stretch so far beyond that into the worlds that others live…like my world. Obligation has taken on a whole new meaning for me because you have infused well-needed perspective. Well said…
When passion betrays for the sake of identity, He knows. His promise of “I will not, I will not, I will not leave you helpless or forsake you” restores honor.