Motivation to Serve the Lord
All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.
Proverbs 16:2
The Lord listens to our hearts which is revealed by our thoughts, because he is concerned about what motivates us. Since we are being molded to conform to Christ, we need to know what motivated Jesus. What is the one characteristic that makes us more like Jesus?
The Father sent his Son to the cross, and Jesus went to the cross for our sins, all because of the love the Father and the Son has for us. So God is looking for us be to motivated by hearts of love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31) The above verse is the greatest command, because a heart of love is what makes us like Jesus, and a heart of love enables us to know and feel the mind and emotions of God.
The Spirit will guide us so our hearts will be filled with God’s love, plus we pray that God will fill our hearts with his love. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) Love is the greatest but it starts with faith; faith to follow the Spirit. If we follow the Spirit the Lord will fill our hearts with his love, then we will have stronger faith and hope, because a heart of love gives us a closer relationship with Christ. It starts with faith which brings God’s love into our hearts, which brings more faith and hope.
Faith, hope, and love, work together to motivate our hearts to serve the Lord, and we are conforming to the image of Jesus. This is spiritual growth because we are continually getting closer to Christ with more faith that depends on Christ for everything. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16) With God’s love in our hearts, serving the Lord is no longer work, it is now the desire of our hearts, and its take priority in our life.
Today live by faith and seek to follow the Spirit. Whatever talents you have the Lord will use them to make you more like Christ.
Prayer: Increase my faith and fill my heart with more of your divine love. In Jesus name, Amen