Your Motivation Matters

By Greg Sanders

Why you do something is just as important as what you are doing. You can do great acts of service but if your motivation is wrong, what you are doing can actually bring greater harm to those you are serving. If you are going to serve Jesus long term, then it is imperative that your motivation be to please Him and not just please yourself. If your motivation is to please yourself, the enemy will make sure you have an opportunity to do so. The problem is that the Bible says clearly that it is impossible to serve God and money. In essence, it’s impossible to serve God and anything else. You will deny one to please the other.

One of my mentors in life used to say to me, “Greg, if you serve God for money, you will serve the devil for a raise.” He was always challenging me to examine my motivation for doing what I was doing. The truth is, the enemy will always try to take advantage and exploit any misguided motivation.

In Matthew 26:14-15 the Bible says, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” Your true motivation always leads you to the thing your heart desires. Judas desired monetary gain over serving Jesus. The enemy made sure he had the choice to gain one at the expense of the other.

 Today’s Challenge: Examine your motivation. Pray and recommit yourself to doing what you do with a heart of pleasing God above all other things. If your motivation gets diluted with selfish gain, the enemy will exploit that to draw you away from your true calling and destiny.

Blessings,

Greg