"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore, all have died..." 2 Corinthians 5:14
What drives you and motivates you? In some ways, this is an easy question to answer. When you wake up in the morning, an empty tummy drives you to breakfast. A full bladder drives you to the bathroom. With a desire to approach the day anew, you may be motivated to shower, shave, and get ready for the day. When you are tired in the evening, your droopy eyes and the darkness motivate you to sleep.
Other times, however, discerning this is not so easily accomplished. What drives you or motivates you in how you approach your work? Think about it for a moment. It could be the need for a paycheck, which motivates you to work, but not perhaps to put your greatest effort into it. You could be motivated to please those who determine your pay level, and so you are motivated to do the things that you get "graded" for, but not a lot else. You could be motivated because you feel particularly called to what you do, and therefore, you go above and beyond what is expected. And even within these, you may find a variety of different motivations for the different tasks you face each day.
We can apply this question to practically everything in life. Your interactions with your family, with your friends, with your neighbors. What motivates you to buy the food you buy, the car you drive, the house in which you live, and so on down the line. Perhaps you have reflected and thought about it, or perhaps not. The question of what drives us is likely not one we consider often enough.
In the verse above, Paul is mentioning that he is driven and motivated by what Jesus had accomplished for him in His death and resurrection. The New International Version of the Bible even puts it like this. The love of Christ compels us. For Paul, the love that God has revealed in Jesus is the motivating factor behind everything. The work he would do, whether as apostle or as tentmaker, would be motivated by Christ's death and resurrection for him. The people he would engage with, he would do so because he was motivated by Christ's death and resurrection for him and for them. The places he would visit, and even the end he would meet, would all be motivated by the love of God in Christ Jesus crucified and raised from the dead.
Think back now to the questions that were posed above. What motivates you in those different things? Sure, the love of God in Christ Jesus may be behind some of them, but you might not think about it for others. How does the love of Christ motivate you, say, in the car you purchase? The home in which you live? How you interact with your coworkers or neighbors? What role does the love of Christ play in how you approach your work, or your family?
You may notice that I'm not answering these questions. These are yours to answer, and if we are honest with ourselves, we may not like how we answer them. We may grow in our realization that much of what we do is not motivated or driven by the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is uncomfortable for us to think about, and yet, it may be the very thing we need to consider so we start to find the love of God in Christ Jesus motivating us even more.
For example, how can the love of Christ motivate us in the house we purchase? Well, it could be that we consider being good stewards of the gifts God has given us. It could be that we consider how our house and home could be a place where we advance God's kingdom, which then impacts the type and style of home we purchase. Say you are motivated by Christ's love to host. Then you likely will choose a house where hosting is easily accomplished. Say you are motivated by Christ's love to raise children, your own, foster, adopted, etc. You choose a place where you can more easily accomplish this. Or you are motivated to live in a place where you can live generously toward others financially, and so you choose a smaller, more spartan house. You see how the love of Christ can motivate even something like the house you buy.
Motivation is not an easily discernible thing. I would argue that we do not consciously know what motivates us in what we do, and so taking the time to reflect on that motivation could prove to be a helpful thing. It may show us things about ourselves we don't like, but that's when we fall back in thankfulness to God's truth that one has died for all, and in our baptism, we have died with Him. Likewise, we have been raised with Him through those same baptismal waters.
What drives you and motivates you? In some ways, this is an easy question to answer. When you wake up in the morning, an empty tummy drives you to breakfast. A full bladder drives you to the bathroom. With a desire to approach the day anew, you may be motivated to shower, shave, and get ready for the day. When you are tired in the evening, your droopy eyes and the darkness motivate you to sleep.
Other times, however, discerning this is not so easily accomplished. What drives you or motivates you in how you approach your work? Think about it for a moment. It could be the need for a paycheck, which motivates you to work, but not perhaps to put your greatest effort into it. You could be motivated to please those who determine your pay level, and so you are motivated to do the things that you get "graded" for, but not a lot else. You could be motivated because you feel particularly called to what you do, and therefore, you go above and beyond what is expected. And even within these, you may find a variety of different motivations for the different tasks you face each day.
We can apply this question to practically everything in life. Your interactions with your family, with your friends, with your neighbors. What motivates you to buy the food you buy, the car you drive, the house in which you live, and so on down the line. Perhaps you have reflected and thought about it, or perhaps not. The question of what drives us is likely not one we consider often enough.
In the verse above, Paul is mentioning that he is driven and motivated by what Jesus had accomplished for him in His death and resurrection. The New International Version of the Bible even puts it like this. The love of Christ compels us. For Paul, the love that God has revealed in Jesus is the motivating factor behind everything. The work he would do, whether as apostle or as tentmaker, would be motivated by Christ's death and resurrection for him. The people he would engage with, he would do so because he was motivated by Christ's death and resurrection for him and for them. The places he would visit, and even the end he would meet, would all be motivated by the love of God in Christ Jesus crucified and raised from the dead.
Think back now to the questions that were posed above. What motivates you in those different things? Sure, the love of God in Christ Jesus may be behind some of them, but you might not think about it for others. How does the love of Christ motivate you, say, in the car you purchase? The home in which you live? How you interact with your coworkers or neighbors? What role does the love of Christ play in how you approach your work, or your family?
You may notice that I'm not answering these questions. These are yours to answer, and if we are honest with ourselves, we may not like how we answer them. We may grow in our realization that much of what we do is not motivated or driven by the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is uncomfortable for us to think about, and yet, it may be the very thing we need to consider so we start to find the love of God in Christ Jesus motivating us even more.
For example, how can the love of Christ motivate us in the house we purchase? Well, it could be that we consider being good stewards of the gifts God has given us. It could be that we consider how our house and home could be a place where we advance God's kingdom, which then impacts the type and style of home we purchase. Say you are motivated by Christ's love to host. Then you likely will choose a house where hosting is easily accomplished. Say you are motivated by Christ's love to raise children, your own, foster, adopted, etc. You choose a place where you can more easily accomplish this. Or you are motivated to live in a place where you can live generously toward others financially, and so you choose a smaller, more spartan house. You see how the love of Christ can motivate even something like the house you buy.
Motivation is not an easily discernible thing. I would argue that we do not consciously know what motivates us in what we do, and so taking the time to reflect on that motivation could prove to be a helpful thing. It may show us things about ourselves we don't like, but that's when we fall back in thankfulness to God's truth that one has died for all, and in our baptism, we have died with Him. Likewise, we have been raised with Him through those same baptismal waters.
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