WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? There will be some that flippantly bypass this but those that read I pray will be feed. Luke 10:25-29 says, And a lawyer stood up and put Him (Jesus) to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he (lawyer) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Why do we do what we do? What motivated the lawyer to test Jesus? It is my belief that Christianity is the only world philosophy and religion that focuses on the internal struggle of every human to be declared good in the sight of someone else. World philosophies focus on what is called ethical behaviorism- how do we get people to comply with socially accepted behavior. Simply saying that it doesnt matter why they behave, just only that they behave. Religions focus on what they can do to make there-self acceptable to their chosen deity. What works and obedience must they do to be accepted. However, Jesus teachings, as exampled in the beatitudes in Matthew Chap. 5, show us that Christ, while He commands us to work for and obey Him, He is more so concerned with the motivation behind why we work and obey. To me it boils down to one of two thing: love of self or Love for God. You may say well all I need to do is work for God, then Hell be pleased with me. Well, in my opinion, it depends on the heart. Here is an illustration. A pastor who has children lives in a neighborhood were one day the kids were outside playing and a ball landed in a neighbors yard. After one of the kids went to retrieve it, the owner started yelling at the kids for getting on his lawn. The Pastor is witnessed to this. This infuriates the pastor but he bottles up his anger thinking thats what God wants him to do. Now Im not saying the pastor should have went over and gave him a piece of his mind, please dont think that. But I ask, what motivated the pastor to bottle up his anger? It could be because he didnt want to look bad in front of the rest of his neighbors, after all he is a man of God and he has an image to up hold. Some would say he displayed Godly righteousness by suppressing the fleshy behavior. But, Jesus wants us to work on why we get angry. Jesus said anger of the heart is the same as murdering the flesh. We are ALL sinners to whom I am chief among. Whats in your heart? Why do do the things you do? Why do say what you say? Why do you get angry? Christianity is about the grace-filled heart and out of a grace-filled heart flows the good works of the servant.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 00:30:26 +0000
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