Mar. 4: What's Your Motivation?

I find that people are generally motivated by guilt, shame, fear, duty, desire for approval, a desire to correct others, greed, etc.,

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul revealed his motivation: “If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:13-15)

That word “compel” often means to force, require, coerce, make, twist someone’s arm or lean on. Here it simply means "motivates".

I’ve met some Christians (and used to be the type) that are motivated to persuade others to become "Christians" for all the wrong reasons.

Our “sharing our faith” must be less about convincing people they are sinners and selling them a ticket to heaven, and more about sharing the good news that a person can be set free to have a relationship with the God who created them and loves them. My friend Tom says, “We are sinners, but Jesus didn’t come to simply point out that fact, and then let us know what a nice person he was because he was willing to forgive our sins. He forgave our sins so that we could now be adopted as sons & daughters and be brought into a loving relationship with a God who is crazy about us!”

It’s less about a ticket to heaven and more about receiving forgiveness and reconciliation with God—abundant life here and now.

Jesus said, “If you love Me you will keep (obey) my commands. Our obedience should only be motivated by love and nothing else. Again, my friend Tom often reminds me, “If our obedience is motivated by fear (of judgment, punishment), guilt, duty, obligation, etc., then it is not the proper motivation. I honestly think that these forces motivate most of our Christian activity. We may say that we ‘love’ God, but it is a fair question to ask if ‘love’ is really the motivating force, or are there other motivating forces (‘right thing to do’, my duty as a ‘good Christian’, wanting to be respected by others in church, trying to earn God’s blessing, etc,). If we were truly honest, most of us are not motivated by love at all.”

So the proper order of things should be realizing that God loves you and loving Him in return; and realizing that since He loves you, He must love other people, too; and then your love for Him motivates you to love and serve other people like He does.

I recently received an ad for a HUGE Youth program; stadium events being held around the country with Big Name preachers and bands. The whole point was that we have to reach this generation NOW or else… "our pews will be empty, no one listen to your sermons, no one to put money in the plate unless we reach this generation of youth"—all the wrong motives. Whatever happened to serving and loving people because God loves them and wants them to be free?

~ Father, help me to do the right thing for the right reasons. Help me to love people just because You love them and want them to be free. Amen.