When you pray, study the Bible, go to worship, show kindness or join a group or committee, what do you expect to get out of it?

More to the point here, when I blog, what motivates me?

Just me

Just me

Like so many other bloggers I think what I write will help. Yet caution demands attention. Do positive comments make me feel like I have succeeded? Does the number of followers and views suggest some kind of achievement?

Actually, I enjoy getting comments. Some lead to dialogue. Some tell me I let God speak to someone through my keyboard. At other times the comments make clear that what I wrote lacked precision, and while the message may have come from a Divine source, the human hands that got in the way assumed too much, or in some other way made the message hard to find. Sometimes people just read it wrongly, but even then a conversation has begun.

Why do I do it?

Mostly I do it for me. Blogland citizens have become a part of my experience of the family of God. Of course, some aren’t friendly, and then I have to make decisions about how to deal with them. Disagreement can be nutritious; nasty with a dose of contempt usually means to move on.

My doctoral studies focussed on Old Testament prophecy. When I came to the realization very late in life that this was my calling and gift I went back to them, reading to discover what to do, what it meant for me. Just about everything I do has a prophet’s words to guide me, and that becomes both good (keep going) and intimidating (not that way bozo).

Zechariah“Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me? When you ate and drank, didn’t you do it to benefit yourselves?’ ” (Zechariah 7:5-6 God’s Word).

And what happens if I don’t get it right and start to blog out of pride or compulsion?

“This is what the Lord of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other. Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don’t even think of doing evil to each other. But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn’t hear. They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn’t hear the Lord’s teachings, the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord of Armies became very angry” (Zechariah 7:9-12 God’s Word).

So who benefits from my blog? I do. I admit it. Yet here comes a practice of the discipline of humility. (That’s why I choose not to accept any more awards others so kindly offer.) As long as I remain grateful that God leads me to blog and that I serve a risen Saviour, I have half a chance of keeping my feet on spiritual ground.

Believe me, I don’t want to tick God off. Angry God = sad me?