THE SUPREME MOTIVE

THE SUPREME MOTIVE

“…(Jesus) knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’” Luke 22:41

What was Jesus’ major motivating factor in life? It was to please His Father. He said, “…I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” (John 8:28b-29). Jesus is the supreme example of right motives. He always did what pleased His Father. Can we say the same thing? Is our supreme motivating factor God, or ourselves? Too many times, it is ourselves. Oh, to be like Jesus and have pure motives in everything we do and say!

Paul admonishes us to “…walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work.” (Col. 1:10). We need to have the Father as the supreme motivating factor of our lives. We need to please Him alone. We need to serve Him according to His will, not our own. We need to serve Him with pure hearts and pure motives, and that only comes with complete surrender to His will. Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” The cry of our hearts must be like David’s, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10). Our motives must be like Jesus,’ “Not My will but Yours be done.”

Paul admonishes us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; Who…made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” (Phil 2:3, 5, 7) and humbled Himself (vs. 6, 8) to do His Father’s will. We must humble ourselves to do His will also. We must not be selfish, but rather selfless. “Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.” (Psa. 119:36).

Our most important motivating factor must be God and serving Him. Our most important motivating factor must be to be like Jesus. We need to be humble and pure in our hearts and our motives. We need to say, in everything, “not my will, but Yours be done.”

“In all I think and say and do, I long, O God to honor You; but may my highest motive be, to love the Christ Who died for me.” (D. DeHaan)

“Others see what we do, but God sees why we do it.”