At a high school graduation recently, one student was heard to make these remarks: “Yeah, I finally made it. It’s a good thing, too. If I had blown it, my parents would have killed me!” In contrast, during the ceremony one of the student speakers, an oriental girl who was a foreign exchange student declared through her tears, “I want to express my deepest appreciation to my parents for loving me and for giving me the opportunity to get an education in this great land. I want to do everything I can to show them how much I love them and to make them proud of me.” What a difference in motivation between these students. The first obviously lived in fear of his parents, while the second understood and appreciated what her parents had done for her. The epitaph of Amaziah, a king of Israel, reads, “He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2 NKJ). Obedience involves attitude, not merely outward actions. What is your motivation when you obey Christ? Do you serve Christ out of fear and self-serving ambition? Or from a loyal heart because you understand and appreciate God’s love and what he has done for you?