If you are a follower of Jesus and he is your Lord, you will likely have a sense of discontent in relation to your prayer life, bible reading, and service to others. This can be a good thing as we seek to be a good stewards of how we spend our time, and these disciplines allow us to draw closer to God. We all have time wasters that could be eliminated. We do have to be careful with this though, as there are times when we are super disciplined in these areas and we get puffed up in thinking we have done some that is deserving of God’s love or extra points with God.
The opposite can be true when we are not so disciplined in these areas and we now don’t feel as close to God. This can put us in a trap of, do to be. Do prayer, bible reading, and service to others to be accepted and loved by God. This is bad thinking and theology. This bad thinking can lead to bad desires, which can lead to bad actions. The church in Ephesus had to be warned against this by Paul.
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift not from works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
The Gift Must Be Accepted and Opened
The gift has no use unless it is opened up. God’s grace is a free gift but we often like to pay God back for what he has done for us.
The below could be a prayer to help us check our motives for our spiritual disciplines:
God, you cannot love us anymore, the cross proves that.
God, you will not love us any less, His promises of His return.
God you did it all.
God you will do it all.
Jesus, you covered our sins of the past, present and future.
You empower us with the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life now and your promises are our future hope.
We Love you Lord.
Amen
So to answer the question, how then shall we live.
Michah 6:8 gives us some guidance:
Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
One Another Ministries 
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