When you get up each morning, what is your motivation or purpose? Or what is that reason that sets you into motion each day? For some it is to fulfill some basic needs: obtaining food, clothing and shelter. For many of us, it is to take care of the needs of our family or fulfill our job responsibilities. These are the normal concerns of those living in this natural world. Yet, there is more to life than living in conformity to the standards of this world. Look at the life of the Lord Jesus. He did not let himself get bogged down into demands and conditions of the world in which he lived. Jesus knew that what took place down here on earth was temporary. Instead he conformed his life to the true reality of the spiritual or heavenly realm. Thus, Jesus stayed in close association with His Father and obeyed his will and His father took care of his earthly concerns. And in the New Testament, we are told to do the same. For example the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians, “If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3.
At our house, on different days we have different task to accomplish. Usually on Mondays, Dora and I spend a few hours cleaning the house. On Wednesdays we usually go shopping around town to buy various items. And on Fridays I spend the morning cooking foods that we will be eating during the coming week. But when I get up each morning one of the first things I want to do is to spend some time in fellowship with the Father, the Lord Jesus and his word. I take time to pray and to read God’s word. This is the most important part of the day because it determines the course of my day and the course of my life.
Paul urges us to set our hearts, that is, our purpose or driving force on things above; that is, on purposes beyond the concerns of that natural world. Why? Because when we received Christ, through the new birth, we are raised or elevated from a natural to a supernatural level of life. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians that God, “raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” Ephesians 2:6. We are seated with Christ. And where is Christ sitting? At the right hand of the Father, “at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named…,” Ephesians 1:20, 21. We need to take hold of this position we have as believers and adopt a heavenly perspective to the issues we deal with. Then we can discover the freedom to pursue the higher ideals and purposes of heaven.
What are these purposes? I think there are at least four motivations that should guide us each day:
First there is Love – Love for God and love for others.
For God: to love God with all our heart, soul and mind; Jesus said that this was the greatest and most important commandment (Matthew 22:36-38). What are the qualities of someone who loves God in this manner? They take time each day to spend in God’s presence. They study his word to find out what pleases him. And they listen for his voice and seek to obey God in every area of their lives. What about you? Do these qualities describe you?
And for love others: What does it mean? It means to value others just as we value ourselves, in spite of their faults and shortcomings, and to demonstrate God’s goodness, kindness and mercy to them, even to those we do not necessarily like. This kind of love is not based on an emotions or feelings. It is based on our connection to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we should not find it difficult to demonstrate God’s love. The Apostle John tells us that God is love. Love is the high expression of God’s nature. And as his children, we have the same nature, the same spiritual DNA. That is why Paul tells us in Ephesians, “Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance,” Ephesians 5:1-2. And to demonstrate his love we first have to get a revelation of just how much God loves us and how much mercy and grace he has shown us. And second we allow the Lord to direct us in demonstrating his love to others by yielding our lives to the Holy Spirit and following his guidance.
Did you take any time to day to show the love of God to those around you? This is imperative because love is the basic longing that everyone on earth is seeking to satisfy. Many will attempt to fill this longing through their own efforts with other things such as possessions, wealth, status, power, oppression, relationships or destructive habits. But these things will pale in comparison to love that is offered freely. Jesus taught that loving one’s neighbor as yourself was the second most important commandment. Let us not neglect it. Instead, look for opportunities to show the love of God: opportunities where your can share the joy of the Lord who do not know him, share an encouraging word to those who are discouraged or to give of your substance, time or possessions to those who have are in need because there is more to life than satisfying your own needs.
For a time in the States I worked with a lady named Lea, who left a good paying job in Texas to move to the state of Georgia to work with disadvantaged children in an after school program that she started. Each afternoon, 20 or more children from low income families would come to her facility for two hours of tutoring, Bible teaching and games. She did this out of a heart of compassion to give these children love, nurture and guidance so they would have a bright future. We all can learn from her example. If you will yield to God’s Spirit, he will also show you areas where you can make a difference in the lives of others.
So our first motivation is to love God and to demonstrate his love to others each day.
The second motivation that should guide us each day is exercising our faith. Faith is our confidence in God and the expression of that confidence in our thoughts, words and actions. What about your faith? Are you developing it? Are you using it? And are you expressing it? What did Jesus say about faith? Look in Mark 11:20 – 24:
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.” Jesus answering said to them, “Have faith in God. For most assuredly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
Faith, when understood and used correctly is a spiritual force. Some may say they have faith because they believe in God. But this statement is just a mental assent. It is not enough to bring changes through God’s power into one’s life. Real faith is based on the character and word of God. God reveals himself and his purpose for us through his word. It was just as when God was dealing with Abraham. In Abraham’s time there was no Bible, no church, and no nation of Israel. Most people believed that there were many gods that had to be worshiped. God had created mankind for fellowship with him, yet sin entered the picture and the relationship between God and mankind was broken. Then men began to formulate their own ideas about God. But God had a plan redeem mankind. To begin this plan, God need a man-someone who would recognize him as the one true God and obey his word without question or any need of proof.
It was Abraham or Abram as he was first called that God chose for his plan. In Genesis 12:1-3 we read how God called Abram to forsake his country and travel to a new land:
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed.”
What a great offer God made to Abraham. And without any questioning, or preconditions Abraham left and headed for the land of Canaan. Later on in Genesis 15 we read God’s response when Abraham expressed his concern about not having an heir:
Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir.” Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So shall your seed be.” He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:3-6
Do you see what it was that set Abraham apart from other people of his generation? He took God at his word and acted upon it. Centuries later the Apostle Paul would explain the significance of this Abraham’s response to God’s word in Romans:
Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your seed be.” Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Romans 4:18-21
How did Abraham respond to God? “I hope so…” No, he was fully persuaded! And we need to be the same way when we approach God. As the writer of Hebrews says that, “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.
Thus, we should strive to stay fully persuaded in our hearts in regards to the promises and purposes that God has revealed to us and to continue to express that conviction in our thoughts, words and actions. We do not let events contrary to what we are relying on God for to weaken our faith or the passage of time; rather we continue to express our confidence in the God who is able to do what he has promised. We stay persuaded by building up our faith with God’s word, through prayer and worship and by fellowship who those share the same faith. Then, just like Abraham, we will also see God do great things.
In addition to love and faith, a third motivation that should guide us each day is the desire to live holy and pure lives before God. Holiness is moral purity; it is to conduct oneself according to God’s righteous standard while continuing to live in a corrupt and wicked world. The apostle Peter reminds us of God’s requirement for holy living:
But just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16
And in the book of 1 Peter he says:
Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having good behavior among the nations, so in that which they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12
If you strive to live a holy life you will discover that you have an advantage over the rest of the world. Many followers of Christ have fallen by the wayside or weakened their testimony because they were caught indulging in sin. Some have shortened their lives because their carelessness caused harm to their bodies or made themselves vulnerable to illness. Yet, if you follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit people will have difficulty finding fault with your conduct. As Paul says in Galatians concerning the fruit of the Spirit, “Against such things there is no law.”
An example of some one who chose to live a holy life was Joseph. Despite jealously and mistreatment of his brother who sold Joseph to slave traders, and the deceitfulness of Potiphar’s wife, years spent in prison and the forgetfulness of Pharaoh butler who’s dream Joseph interpreted. Joseph did not give up on God or give in to the pressures to curse God or adopt a life style of sin. He stayed faithful to God and God continue to bless him and eventual God brought him to prominence and power in Egypt. Such is the result of living a holy life, a life set apart to living in obedience to God.
So like Joseph, strive after the goal of living a holy life. Just go beyond your previous efforts. We will want to sow holiness and righteousness and to reap their fruits rather then the fruits of impurity and unrighteousness.
Finally, the last motive or purpose that should guide our daily lives is serving; that is doing for others what will meet their needs, wants or desires according to the will of God. This is promoted by our desire to demonstrate the love of Christ and to accomplish the will of God in our lives. And it requires an attitude where we place the interest of others before our own and let God take care of our own needs, wants or desires. This follows the attitude demonstrated by our Lord Jesus. As Paul describes in Philippians:
Each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:4-7
We should make it our goal to be a blessing to others. Remember what we read earlier about Abraham. Part of God’s promise to the Father of faith was that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him. Each of us also should become involved in the practice of blessing others. According to 1 Peter, “…as each has received a gift, be ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the grace of God in its various forms,” 1 Peter 4:10. Through the grace of God we have all been given talents, gifts and abilities. What are we to do with these talents, gifts and abilities? We are to serve others. Paul teaches us the same thing in the book of Galatians. He says, “For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another,” Galatians 5:13. And why not involve our lives serving others? It gives us opportunities to use our faith and see God accomplish great things in the lives of others. And our serving does bring us great benefits. Jesus taught us that, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” Acts 20:35. And Paul reminds us in Galatians, “Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up,” Galatians 6:9. It is true; it is very satisfying to be involved in helping others achieve what to could not accomplish on their own. So if you want to be blessed, give your life in service to others.
And how can you become involved in serving others? It is easy. Just look for a need and fill it.
When I lived in Corozal Town in the Central American nation of Belize I had many opportunities to help those in need. For some older people who did not attend church often, I went to their house each week with my guitar. I led them and their family in worship and shared a message from the word of God with them. Others I helped financially time to time. One man I helped had diabetes and need help buy insulin. Another man I helped who was deaf. He did odd jobs around town. But, he had worn out shoes. So one day I took him to a shoe store and let him pick out a new pair of shoes. And in the same way you also can be a blessing to those around you with needs.
So these are four motivations that we as followers of Christ should pursue in our lives each day: love, faith, holiness and service to others. By including these motives into our lives we move from just living for ourselves to allowing God to work through and transform our lives. For God the Father desires for all of us to conform to the image of Christ.
Thus, if you want to make pursuing love, faith, holiness and service to others the main motivators of your life, then ask yourself these questions each day:
1. How can I express my love to God this day?
2. How can I demonstrate Christ love today?
3. How can I grow and extend my faith today?
4. How can I express and demonstrate my confidence in God today?
5. How can I demonstrate the holiness of God in my life today?
6. Who can I be a blessing to today?
7. How can I be a blessing to them today?
So determine today, to change the direction of your life, to be motivated by purposes beyond this natural world. You have a destiny that is higher than where you are now. Get in tune with that new destiny today and start seeing God at work in you and through you today.
Copyright © 2008-2011 by Alan Pasho. All rights reserved.
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