TEEN TREE OF LIFE
The Doctrine of Motivation
Part 1
November 27, 2016
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
To start this doctrine, first ask yourself what motivates you. When you’re young, you are probably motivated by your parents or your desire to please. At times, you may find yourself motivated by money or popularity or success. Motivation means inducement, incentive, or influence. It is the ground for something, or the goal or the object of a person’s actions. Motivation can come from either thought or emotion.
Now, let’s note some principles about God. First, God’s love is eternal; it has always existed; there never was a time when it did not exist. It has no beginning because God is eternal.
Next, God’s Love exists with or without an object to love. That is to say His Love exists whether there are people to love or not. God’s Love has always existed along with His Righteousness and Justice because they are all a part of the same Person. Therefore, the God’s Love can never be understood apart from understanding His Righteousness and Justice.
God’s Love has always existed as a part of His Integrity. God’s love didn’t begin at creation. God is love, has always been love, and will always be love. It does not diminish or increase. It is a perfect part of His Integrity. His Righteousness always does what is right and His Justice always does what is fair. God is always Right and always Fair in dealing with us.
The fact that God is eternal means that God has no beginning. Because of this, He does not have motivation – He is motivation. To be motivated by something God would have to be under the influence of something which would make it greater than Him. God is perfect so he needs no motivation. Be sure that you understand that God is never motivated by anything. He has always been love, and therefore the Cross (the ultimate expression of His Love) has always been a part of His Thinking with respect to His creatures.
Motivation has a beginning with the existence of mankind. Mankind has motivation in the soul. All of mankind is motivated. Whether it’s good or bad motivation is the issue in the Christian way of life. Motivation always has a beginning with respect to mankind, but the Essence of God has always existed, so God is motivation.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1JO 3:1) God gave the most power to the Church-Age believers to live in His love. To be given the most assets and the most power is GREAT motivation. To know we’ve been given the most assets and power is to know the Integrity and Love that God has toward us by means of Grace. If The Father’s Love would do this for us, in view of how much it cost Him, won’t He do everything else? To be called children of God by means of His love is to be a member of the one true Royal family. Isn’t that motivating?
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? (ROM 8:28-32) Now that’s a very motivating verse! The fact that God so loved the world that He gave His own Son shows that God is motivation and God is love. When you learn this love it begins a motivation in you to respond to God’s many Doctrines. God’s Integrity motivates us and this includes Righteousness and Justice as well as love. God does not have to be motivated because He knew all that would ever happen billions of years before it ever occurred. Motivation in the soul is the result of Bible doctrine in the stream of consciousness, which produces personal love for God. His Communication of His love towards us produces the reciprocal effect so we ending up loving Him. Therefore we are motivated by our love for God and we don’t quit.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. (2CO 4:8) God is love and His eternal love for you always existed and it will never change. So, stop trying to impress God! You were set free by Him and He has provided your Pastor/Teacher as your access to knowing the His Word, because you cannot simply study it on your own. A major part of humility is to be teachable and to be teachable you have to submit to a Pastor/Teacher. This is freeing to know since we can understand the immutability of God in His dealing with us. Immutability is an important characteristic of God; it is defined us not subject to change; unchanging or unchangeable. God’s love will always be there for us and in view of this God does not need to be motivated to love us. But, we require motivation. Our motivation comes from our love for God. The positive believer is motivated to press on when others would quit. David was motivated by the God’s Integrity in both prosperity and terrible adversity. He stands as a great example to us! Then he removed him and raised up David as their king; of him he testified, “I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.” (ACT 13:22)
What was David after? What motivated David to keep going on after monumental failures? Well, what is in God’s heart? The answer is Righteousness and Justice manifested by Love and Grace. This was David’s motivation and this should be ours as well. David’s motivation is expressed in terms of God’s Integrity: Because God’s Justice would be satisfied at The Cross, in Grace, He not only forgave David the sins that he committed, but He also removed the guilt of wrongdoing from his life. How can God do this? For God, The Cross was a conclusion. The Cross has been forever since eternity past. We think of God in terms of time, but there never was a time when the Divine Decrees were not in His Mind. God’s Justice and Righteousness were satisfied so that He could treat mankind in Love and Grace, and this has been His Mind forever. God never has to be motivated. “For the word of the Lord is upright; And all His work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.” (PSA 33:4-5)
{to be continued}