What motivates me . . . ?

 

 

The daily news often makes me wonder what compels people to do the things they do. The violent and evil stuff is easy; Scripture makes clear that sin COMPELS selfish and evil behavior. But what compels philanthropy or kindness? What makes a child collect money for the homeless or a father sacrifice his life for someone else’s child? What motivates acts of kindness?

Several websites about quotes offer various motivations. One says it is the “soul’s desires” that compel us to grow. Another says that those who try to change others by example are compelled by their own desire for excellence. Still another says that the compassion of Jesus Christ compels people to come to Him and be motivated by Him rather than any self-serving reasons.

That last one reminds me of my sister. Her love for Jesus Christ, compelled by His love for her, compelled all of her grandchildren to give their lives to the Lord. Thinking about it, His love is an incredible motivator. Realizing the ‘length, height, width and breadth’ of it moves Christians to do amazing things, even to sacrifice their lives for other just as Jesus did for all humanity.

The word compel or compelled is not prominent in English but the Greek words that mean the same thing appear about twenty times in the Bible. Some of that is negative. Some show that God’s people were not compelled or forced to do certain things, yet a few speak of the compelling love of God and the compelling power of the Holy Spirit.

An OT example is when Job was accused by his ‘friends’ that his trials were caused by unconfessed sin in his life. This godly man knew this was not so and was compelled to defend himself. In Job 32:17–20 he says, “I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.” He was compelled by the spirit within.

Another example is David who was called a man after God’s own heart. He credited God for compelling his deep devotion. In Psalm 22:9 he said, “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” God motivated his faith, even as a child.

In the NT, Paul wrote of that same source of motivation. He said in Acts 20:22–24 that he was “going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

The Lord was able to compel him because he didn’t consider his own plans had any value! He was able to later say that “The love of Christ controls us” because he was not living for himself. This is key to living in the compulsion of the Holy Spirit, for “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Again, when sin is in control it compels stuff that makes up most of the news, yet even some of the ‘good’ stuff that also hits the headlines is motivated by a selfish desire to be noticed, by pride, by efforts to please man or impress God.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Experience and the Bible teach me that the vital motivation for my life ought to be this one. It is seldom mentioned in Scripture yet clearly demonstrated by God’s people — the love of Christ. His love made a huge impact on my sister’s life. 1 John says: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” and “We love because he first loved us.”