What’s Motivating You?
Elder Renee Turner

As believers, we often spend a great deal of time doing rather than being. What’s the difference? Well, it depends on your motive. There are two types of motivators: horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal motivators: fear of loss, guilt, pride, hope of personal gain, reputation, prestige and pleasure are bi-products of our human nature and can only be corrected as our heart is changed and our mind is transformed. We often “do” out of these facets without realizing it, even though our intentions are the best.

Vertical or biblical motivators result during our process of spiritual maturity and growth in Christ. We begin to operate out of who Christ is forming us to “be” because we have decided that we want to do all for the sake of Christ; because of our love and gratitude towards Him; because of what Christ has done and will do in and through us; because of who we are in Christ; because we recognize the purpose for which we’ve been created, and because we long to be closer to God. We are created to worship—so innately, we will worship SOMETHING or SOMEONE.

When we operate out of horizontal motivators, we set ourselves up to lose because our fear, flaws, failures and our flesh fuel our motives. “It is our natural tendency to be more concerned about the opinions and responses of people whom we can see than about the favor of God whom we cannot see” (Boa, 2001).

Vertical motivators transfer our focus from ourselves and our ability to the One whose power, Spirit and love is working in us. To be winners, we must present ourselves to God daily and ask Him to cause us to grow and mature in Him so that we will be less concerned about doing to win favor, and simply start being—that is to practice living in the identity of who and what He says we are and has called us to be. If our busyness of doing robs us of quality time with Him who loves us most, then our attitude toward God is distorted, and we cannot win.

The Bible teaches that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom 8:1, KJV). God will never put you down when you fall, but He will pick you up. We were born into flesh, but we are now born of the Spirit and thus, must be spiritually motivated. The truth is, it matters very little about the people we impress or the magnitude to which we impress them with our doing; our reward comes from God who is concerned with our being, who looks at the heart of every matter, and knows the truth of why we do what we do.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24). In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Boa, K., Conformed to His Image. 2001, Grand Rapids: Zondervan.