DO YOU NEED TO BE MOTIVATED?

 Greetings dear ones in Christ Jesus:


     Motivation is very difficult for us as people to hold firmly to,and those of us who profess Christ probably have among the most difficult of life's tasks laid out for us if we try to live Christ out on our own. We can be assured that there will always be someone to pop out of a hidden corner of our life to try to steal away what ever joy we can find because that is simply the way of this world; we tend to live by the rule of the stronger among us being the predator, and the weaker the prey.

  The question is always in front of us as to whether or not we are motivated by love our hate?  How much does this world actually influence you toward motivation to do something or to form an opinion about a situation or a person? 2 Corinthians 5:14  tells us that our motivation should be from God, and from His love for us.  That is the only real motivation that counts when all else has gone by the wayside, and yet we are so strongly motivated by the things that we see and hear around us that all too often God's continued and permanent love seems to gets lost.  The fact is that it is not lost at all; we are simply ignoring it.  When we start out in this life the most important thing in our life is self.  In verse 15 the question should be answered.  In the book of Colossians 3:1-3 there are two things mentioned that happened in your life when you came to Christ that should give you new motivation. 1. Setting our minds and hearts on God . 2.We are no longer a part of this world.  The fact is that whenwe came to Christ we gave away our right to life here for the exchange of eternal life with God.  That is really what salvation is all about, and therefore each day we get out of bed we should no longer be living for ourselves, but instead for God.  Most Christians have real problems with that concept and in the idea of being a living sacrifice on a daily basis that is indeed Holy and pleasing to God.

  It seems we would rather live under the threat of a physical bodily harm to save a very temporary life here instead of really getting into the exchange we have said to God that we intend to make for His love to us.  The real signs that we are motivated in the right ways is that we are actually doing something toward making that exchange of our life here for that of the Kingdom of Heaven that has been promised to us.  The word tells us not to fear the things of man and the threats of bodily harm to those who prefer Jesus over the world.  This world can only cause one kind of death to a very temporary life here so the word tells us to fear the one who can kill both the body and the soul.

  I have had to come to that point off a fork in the road  which either leads to God or to the things of this world, and while I enjoy the things I have here my concentration is on the things of Heaven. Today is another opportunity for you to make that choice too.  It isn't a choice of salvation, but a choice about your true commitment to Christ, and the action that you are willing to take toward making sure that God knows where your heart is.  I am finding as I get older just how quick time passes, and just how important the decision is to take sides either with God or self.  If we remain luke-warm God said He will get rid of us anyway...He does not like anything that has no commitment to it..  If we do this it will mean a new and very different commitment to the world around us from anything that we have ever known, and that will be the next discussion.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.



THE UNWORTHY SERVANT