DUTY’S PATH
Delight Instead of Drudgery
Part 1

“I choose the path of faithfulness; I am committed to your regulations”
(Psalm 119:30 (NET).

Daily commitment, faithfulness, and duty? They don’t sound like exciting words, do they? We’d rather do something more exciting! Read a book! Watch a movie!

However, duty is part of life. The Knox translation of the above Scripture says: “Duty’s path my choice.” We must choose the way of duty, even when we don’t feel like it. It reminds me of the quote, if I can remember it correctly: “It takes character to cope with life when duty rather than pleasure is the sustaining force.”

The dictionary meaning of duty is:

Something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation,

the binding or obligatory force of something that is morally or legally right,

an action or function required by a person's position or occupation,

the respectful and obedient conduct due a parent, superior, elder, etc.

an act or expression of respect.

a task or chore that a person is expected to perform.

If God has blessed us with children, our No. 1 occupation is motherhood and the management of the home. It takes a life of duty to keep a home running smoothly. Sometimes we may look upon it as duty and our thoughts spiral down to drudgery.

However, duty can be drudgery or delight depending to our attitude. We not only choose duty because it is the right thing to do, but we choose our attitude. When we choose and confess that every task in our homes—menial or creative—are a delight, they become a delight.

Make duty your delight and you will love every moment in your home. Sing while you work. Smile as you work. Praise the Lord as you work. Everything depends on what we choose to do.

The Greek word for duty in the New Testament is opheilo and means “to owe, to be morally obligated, pay the debt, express human and ethical responsibility, to fall in duty, it’s a must.”

It’s good to remind ourselves of duty in a general way, but the Bible mentions some specific things that are our duty. Therefore , I think we should look at them, don’t you?

1. SEXUAL INTERCOURSE FOR MARRIED COUPLES

Is this a duty? When God brought the first couple together, the first thing He told them was to be “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). That’s it! God’s ultimate plan. His first description of marriage. Therefore we owe it to one another.

1 Corinthians 7:3 calls it “due benevolence.” Now that doesn’t sound very romantic, does it? The Syriac version translates it “due love.” But let’s read it from a modern version: “The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations . . .” (NLT).

The wonderful thing about this moral obligation in marriage is that although it’s considered a duty, God has created it to be a DELIGHT. God is amazing. Proverbs 5:19 describes it as “ravishing.” The full meaning of the Hebrew word is to be “enraptured, intoxicated, transported with delight, captivated, entranced, steal away the senses.” How often should this happen? This Scripture tell us “at all times” and “always.” Look it up and read it again.

There may be times in your marriage when you may not experience it as a delight. That’s when you move into “duty” mode. As you are faithful to do your duty, delight will come rolling back to you. It’s a divine law. It’s like the ebb and flow of the tide. Sometimes the tide goes out, but it is a universal law that tide always comes flowing in again.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

PRAYER:

“Dear Father. Please help me to be faithful to do what is right and what is required of me. Please save me from getting into the pit of drudgery but to see every task as a sacred duty. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I choose the way of duty, but I choose to do it with joy and exuberance.

P.S. Read the Old Testament Scriptures about sexual duty: Genesis 38:8; Exodus 21:10; and Deuteronomy 25:5, 7.