Motivation
What motivates you? Why do you do the things that you do? What keeps you going? What happens when that motivation you have starts to decline? Do you keep the course? Do you continue on?
For each one of us we have different things that motivate us. Some people are content to live with few pleasures. Others seek them daily.
His name is Paul. He was an apostle. He was a Jew that loved God. But he did not love those people who said that Jesus was Lord. On the road to Damascus to have Christians bound for their faith in Jesus, the Lord appeared to him. He would be converted and then follow Him and serve him diligently. (Acts 9; 22; 26) These verses tell of his conversion to Christianity.
Up to this point, his motivation was to make sure Christians were put to death. After his conversion he was zealous to do the Lord’s will.
Paul suffered severe hardships for the cause of Christ, yet never gave up, even when stoned and left for dead. Read 2 Corinthians 11:22-28 to see the many things he endured. Some people would, and have, given up for less than the things he endured.
So, why would Paul do this? Let me suggest this. In Galatians 6:14 Paul states, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The cross of Christ was ever before the apostle’s eyes. He knew the suffering and the pain that Jesus endured for him, and he was willing to suffer ill treatment at the hands of others to be faithful to God.
Paul also knew there was something better waiting for him. At the end of his life he would tell Timothy. “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NASB)
I’m not sure what motivates you, but if we ever keep the cross of Christ before us and obey the Lord’s teaching in the New Testament, there is something better waiting for us as well. Is this enough to motivate you? Hatred placed Him on the cross; His love kept Him there. Be faithful. Be diligent in serving the Master, and something wonderful awaits you.