No Longer Duty-Bound

By Steve Hearts

Since the change journey, I have come to experience an immense liberty as I learn to do my duties for God out of true love for Him rather than obligation. I find myself renewed and revolutionized as I switch from focusing on the fulfilling of requirements to simply strengthening my relationship with Jesus.

In times past it was often as though I would do one thing only to “leave the other undone.”1 When it came to fulfilling the required hour and a half to two hours of Word intake, I was like clockwork—intent on proving that not even my blindness could get in the way of this important “duty.” Here, precisely, was where the problem lay. I was duty-bound.

I would come away from my times with the Lord feeling satisfied with myself for having fulfilled my obligation, and judge others who seemed less assiduous about this than I did. Yet when unexpected problems or emergencies occurred, I often found myself freaking out and buckling under the weight, while many of those whom I had judged for their lack of diligence were exhibiting a calm, trusting attitude.

I soon saw that my relationship with the Lord went no further than fulfilling the letter of the law, making it impossible for me to grow and benefit therefrom. I faithfully took in the Word but failed to act on it, thus making it “of none effect” in my life.2 Those I was judging, on the other hand, were truly living and reaping the benefits of the spiritual input they were taking in.

My focus having switched from the fulfillment of requirements to the strengthening of my relationship with the Lord, I now feel I have been set free. No longer being duty-bound enables me to more easily pursue and obtain the benefits that the former requirements were originally meant to bring about.

The tendency to be duty-bound can be traced as far back as my childhood. Back then, I took great pleasure in correcting my peers and siblings and reporting their misdeeds. I was often called a “tattletale.” My mother would remind me time and again, “It’s not your place to correct people.” One of my caretakers told me, “You, with your tattletale attitude, are just as guilty as those whose misdeeds you’re reporting.”

A story tells of a New England farming family, which was expecting a minister to lodge with them and preach in their church the following day. It was a stormy night with heavy snow falling. At the time the minister was expected, a rather elderly gentleman came to the door, asking to know the distance to the nearest town. Being certain that weather conditions would prevent him from going any further, he asked to lodge with the farmer and his family for the night. They agreed, surmising that their expected guest must also have been detained by the elements.

Over supper, the gentleman conversed with his hosts, discovering that they were faithful church-attendees. He then asked if they knew how many commandments there are. They all confidently affirmed that there are ten.

“Are you certain?” asked the gentleman dubiously. “Are there not eleven?”

The guest was berated for his “ignorance” and taken aside for a study with the farmer.

The gentleman left early the next morning, before the family headed for church—supposedly to continue on his journey. Therefore, upon arriving at church, they were all surprised to see none other than the same man heading straight to the pulpit. The title of his sermon surprised them yet further: “The 11th Commandment,” whereupon he read the passage, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.”3 Upon hearing his sermon, his hosts saw that they were the “ignorant” ones.

It then dawned on them that this man was the minister they had been expecting the night before. At the end of the service, they greeted him, apologized profusely for their rudeness, and thanked him for his timely sermon.

Jesus is calling us to more than just duty for Him. He invites us to a relationship with Him. He appreciates our assiduous devotion to the tasks He gives us. But what He desires most from us is love—a love that goes beyond obligation and springs from the depths of the heart.


1 Matthew 23:23.

2 Mark 7:13.

3 John 13:34.