Why do we do the things we do? Does it matter what motivates us? Surely if we are obeying the rules, that’s all God cares about?

In our alphabet series of things essential for a life of faith, we looked at the fact that M is for Motivation.

Motivation is the fuel which keeps us going on days when we would otherwise flag and give up (see Gal 6:7-9). God desires truth in the inmost parts (see Ps 51:6); it’s not enough to look good on the outside if the inside is rotten (see Jesus’ comments to the Pharisees in Matt 23:25-26). Paul tells us to ‘examine ourselves’ and ‘test ourselves’ to see whether we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5), to see if our motivation is pure and sincere, and we have to understand that God sees the heart and doesn’t look at the outward appearance. (1 Sam 16:7)

Life is rather like an iceberg: the tip of that iceberg represents our actions and behaviour, but so much is hidden from plain view, and that represents our motivation. We need to understand that God wants to be at the heart of our thinking and in our attitudes as well as in our actions!

For Jesus, how we live is as important as that we live. The way that we do things matters as much as what we do. We must never subscribe to Machiavelli’s philosophy that ‘the end justifies the means’. Instead, we have to dig deep into our motives and ask ourselves 3 questions.

  1. Are we motivated by fear or by love?
  2. Are we motivated by a desire to please people or to please God?
  3. Are we motivated by selfish goals or by God-goals?