Jeff Scanlan wrote:
> 
>> The real concern here is that you think it is possible to fulfill one's
>> duty to God apart from a heart overflowing in love (based on your
>> statements, "The point you were trying to make was that duty could be
>> joyous and maybe should be. I simply pointed out that that was not
>> necessarily the case. We can do things out of duty without throwing a
>> party in doing it..").  Obedience that does not stem from love for God
>> is not obedience.
>>
> 
> And that is why some people walk out on marriages.... because they do not
> feel 'in love' anymore. It is the same sort of attitude. I need to conjure
> up the feeling and if I cannot conjure up the feeling then I need not do it.

I am not sure you could have missed my point more than you did.  (I did 
not mention an emotional "in love" feeling; you did.  I said "love.")  I 
will never walk out on my wife precisely because I love her.  If I 
stayed with my wife simply out of a sense of duty I am not loving her. 
God has not called me to "stay with my wife."  God has called me to 
*love* my wife.  The result of that love is faithfulness to her. 
Similarly, God has not called us to obey Him out of duty.  God has 
called us to love Him and from that love, live a life of obedience.  You 
cannot truly obey God out of a sense of duty.  Obedience that does not 
spring from love is not obedience.
--
john-thomas