Piper focused on the words “compulsion” and “eagerness”. He stated that if a pastor fulfills his job out of duty because that is the right thing to do and so I am just going to sheer willpower do it, then it is of NO benefit to his people. Now, on one hand, as a parent, even if I parent out of duty, without joy, doing my daily tasks because I need to, with a tired look on my face and many a short answer, there is still some benefit to my child. She is fed, has a place to sleep. Maybe she learned something practical. There is a physical benefit to duty driven parenting. Yet we are also the spiritual shepherds of our children. So as much as I parent out of joyless duty, I am of NO benefit to my child! What a sobering thought! That is how there are so many religion-soured children out there who want little to do with the God of their parents because all they saw was duty duty duty and man cannot live on bread alone! The human heart and soul was made to crave so much more than compulsory duty, than slavery to law! It was for freedom that Christ set us free and that reality should fill our hearts with joy. If it is by faith indeed a reality to us.

Piper made a comment that clarified the battle ground for me. As we face our day, our moment, our task, the battle is not with action or duty or behavior. The battle is with what makes my heart glad? Do I delight in the Lord and in His word? Does it give a song to my heart and a smile to my face? If I don’t, I must fight for that delight. I must fight for joy. Praise God, His Truth and His Son is the only source of lasting joy, so it is a battle that can be certainly won, but we are usually taking battle swings at the cement wall of dutiful behavior. It isn’t a fight that can be won.

So, what makes your heart glad? Truly, deeply, purely, guilt-free glad?

How does this relate to Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies? At the conference she talked of the annointing of the Spirit that we mothers desperately need and without which we cannot effectively mother our children. She said that the main characteristics of the spirit annointing are sweetness and power. Sweetness! The presence of the spirit is sweet to our souls and gives joy to our hearts. Without that sweetness, we are of no benefit to our children. The reformed and the charasmatic make the same point. Wonderful!

This has been extremely helpful and convicting to my personally. I tend to be very duty driven and I have seen the effects on my children. Honestly, all my 3 year olds bad behavior comes from me. I can pin point almost every problem she has to my own behavior. It is because I have counted action to be more important than sweetness and joy. Praise the grace of God that he gave me the gift of song, because it has brought perhaps the only daily alotment of pure delight we have in our home. We are all at our best when we are singing. So I am going to start with the grace God has given and pray to expand it throughout my day in creative ways. I want so desperately for my children to truly delight in the Lord and find His joy to be their strength.