Motivation is Everything - Part 2

Now, let's review some biblical examples to better understand this cycle of God loving us followed by us loving God. In Luke 4, Jesus calls Peter into full-time ministry. Before that, however, he tells Peter to launch out in the deep water and lower his nets for a catch of fish. After arguing with Jesus, Peter partially complies by lowering only one net. The result: a net-breaking, ship-sinking harvest of fish. Immediately following this miracle, Peter runs to the feet of Jesus and says, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” (v. 8) I ask you, which one came first? The super-abundant blessing of prosperity to a half-obedient sailor, or that sailor’s repentance? The blessing came first.

In Luke 19 Zacchaeus, a white-collar thief, climbs a high tree branch to get a good look at Jesus. Jesus spots him and says,” Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. For today I must abide at your house.” (v. 5) Gasp! You mean Jesus (and all his anointing) is going to fellowship with this sinner! Yes and when he did, Zacchaeus responded by saying, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” (v. 8) Which came first, Zacchaeus’ repentance, or Jesus blessing the undeserving man by bringing salvation to his house? Again, the blessing came first.

In John 1: 44-49, Phillip informs his friend Nathaniel that he has just met the Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathaniel replies, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (v.46) Phillip took him to find out the answer to that question. Now, here comes Nathaniel approaching Jesus full of doubt and suspicious of His heritage. Did Jesus tell him, “Go and meditate the Word and don’t come back until you are in faith about who I am!” or “How dare you disrespect the land that birthed the Lamb of God! Repent!” No, he didn’t. Instead, when our sweet Savior saw Nathaniel coming he shouted:

“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (v. 47)

Jesus affirmed Nathaniel, a doubting and disrespectful man, by honoring him for being of the esteemed nation of Israel and by complimenting his character! And to top it off, Jesus even gave him a word of knowledge about being under a fig tree. So, Jesus met Nathaniel’s bad attitude with kindness, reassurance, and a manifestation of one of the gifts of the Spirit. How did Nathaniel respond? “Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” (v. 49) So here we have another man who comes in contact with the unmerited goodness of God and repents.

Let’s keep going! In 2 Chronicles 1:7-12 the Lord appears to Solomon and basically says, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will grant it.” (v. 7) Wow! What a generous thing for God to do. Solomon asks for wisdom to rule the people, and God give him wisdom and abundant wealth (v. 11-12). The very next thing Solomon does is he begins to build a temple, a house for the Lord. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 describe the majesty of the temple that Solomon built.

Notice that God didn’t show up saying, “Solomon, build me a temple and I’ll bless you.” God knows that once we come in contact with his abundant goodness, the only physical, emotional, mental, spiritual response is repentance motivating us to bless the Lord back in some way. Isn’t that how relationships are supposed to work anyway? Neither party making demands of the other, each person simply wanting to be good to the other, and out of gratitude the other turns around to blesses them back without being prodded or manipulated. It’s a divine cycle of love that only God could have created.

In Genesis 6, God overwhelms the earth with a flood that killed every living creature except Noah, his family, and the animals he had aboard the ark. Just imagine, nearly a year at sea with no one but your family, nothing to eat other than what was packed, no running water, and no sanitary way to dispose of waste. Eww! The smell alone is enough to make you want to jump overboard!

After disembarking the ark for the first time, Noah builds an altar and sacrifices a burnt offering to the Lord. (8:20) Where do you think he got the animals for the offering? If every creature on the earth is dead, then he had to have gotten them from his own family zoo on the ark. Remember, the animals were loaded before the flood two by two. So, if Noah takes one for an offering, that meant instant extinction for several animals all in one day! What was Noah thinking?! I’ll tell you what he was thinking. He was thinking, “THANK YOU Lord for saving my family. Thank you for keeping us for nearly a year with no running water and only the food we brought! We could’ve starved to death, we could’ve hit a rock and sunk, we could’ve all been killed by waste poisoning! But, you rescued us time and time again! We could’ve killed each other, or you could’ve have chosen another family to spare! Thank you Lord! If you can do all this, I know you can provide many more animals to populate the earth!” Who knows what miracles Noah and his family saw God perform while on the ark. And out of gratitude he offers to the Lord from a very precious supply with no fear because he’d already seen God’s power. The love cycle continues by God promising never again to destroy the earth with a flood and instituting the principal of seedtime and harvest.

The last two examples are of Abraham, our father of faith. In Genesis 14, we see him giving the first recorded tithe. But what preceded this action? At the start of chapter 12 God promises to overflow him with blessing so he can bless others. He promises that all people would be blessed through his Seed. Later in the chapter, he gets a bunch of free stuff from Pharaoh after lying about Sarah being his sister! In chapter 13 Abraham had become “extremely rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (v. 2) and he and his nephew had amassed so much wealth that the land cannot sustain them. (v. 6) Clearly, God made good on his promises. In early chapter 14, God gave Abraham victory over four kings in battle. Afterwards, the high priest of the land came to him and pronounced a blessing. And then:

“And he gave him tithes of all.” (v. 20)

Abraham gave his tithe AFTER the high priest blessed him, not before. It is clear that Abraham gave his tithe out of gratitude. Look at what the Lord had done in his life! In fact, every time you read about Abraham building an altar to the Lord, he’s doing it right after the Lord blessed him or spoke to him. God held nothing back from him, so he held nothing back from God.

Also, Abraham instituted the rite of circumcision in chapter 17. In the New Testament, circumcision symbolizes obedience to God’s law. But, notice that God declared him righteous in 15:6. God said he was righteous, in right standing with God, holy, blameless, qualified for blessing BEFORE Abraham fulfilled any laws.

With God, the reason for your holiness or obedience is more important than the act itself. The famous love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 begins by saying:

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” (v, 1-3, NLT)

So we see here that a wrong motive can nullify benefits your good works. James 4:3 says:

“You ask and receive not because you ask amiss.”

To ask amiss is to ask with the wrong motive. In more relatable terms, who wants a spouse that does and says nice things only because the Bible says they should? Well, our Father is the same way. He wants us to obey out of a thankful heart and because we love him. Again, your motive matters.

God is not out of touch. He knows the types of things that truly spark gratitude and thankfulness in our hearts. While I love all these biblical examples, there is something far greater that God has already done for us. And if we are able to understand it, and acknowledge it, it will bring jaw-dropping victory. And trust me, God knows how to drop your jaw.

More later. Comments are always welcome…