Pride as Your Motivation

I have been thinking about what motivates people. I guess it builds on the last entry about our soul and God’s will. “You don’t want to gain the whole world and lose your soul.”

Let’s use pride as our source of motivation. There are all kinds of things that encourage prideful thinking. Here are a few that come to mind: Understanding, presumption, feeling wronged, hurt, unrecognized, someone is favored over you, someone’s point of view is favored over yours, someone not understanding your perspective, wanting the last word, feeling competitive, compared to, feeling liked, feeling disliked and the list goes on and on.

But pride should not be a motivation factor in our Christian life because it does not come from true self-love.

Self-love does not see a need to compete, outperform or battle against yourself/ your soul or your “neighbor.” It is accepting whom you are in Christ then allowing God to use, which you are. Self –love comes through Christ. It is seeing God created you and made you for a purpose.

I have come to learn that through Christ we have peace with ourselves and God and we aren’t here to battle flesh and blood but the evil prince of this world who is Satan and his demons. Yet as we see and understand this adversary we see we are no match to his tactics when we walk in motivation stirred on by human understandings. He is so tricky and divisive he would use our own human ways to motivate us to go after him in the “flesh.” Heck that is what he uses to keep people from God and to drive people from their Christian faith. And in reality we should avoid him as much as possible like the schoolyard bully. God is going to deal with Satan and his demons so don’t try going after him in some heroic thought. Simply stand your ground.

I sometimes think Satan schools us on occasion. A good beating helps us see we need God on our side.

We are armored vessels that carry God’s light. We as Christians are part base and part acid- one part earth and one part heaven- which makes up salt and without true Godly motives we are only as good as earth. The things of earth no matter how beautiful- will become dust and useless.

God has made many beautiful things on this earth but He reminds us even though beautiful- they all will fade and die away. Fleshly motives such as pride will become meaningless and worthless. Even the things I might enjoy like painting, writing, and photography may only be satisfying like a seasonal garden. The things we might enjoy which may be harmless- will only sustain our individuality for a short time.

Religion without Christ will only last a season as well. Jesus is our day-to-day motivation. He sustains us but if sinful motives come in on the tide watch out that they don’t sweep you out. If they do they will toss you back and forth in the unsettling waves of the sea taking your assurance of your faith even though Jesus has shown himself true to you in so many ways. Jesus will even go after the one being tossed in the sea- hoping they will turn to him- to be hoisted out of the behaviors and customs of the world that swallow the soul and make individuals forget their creator and forget themselves.

What motivates you soul?

Your motives are not to be twisted.

Even instruments and the appointed in the church… they are no more important then those who attend the church. If those appointed, start to act and believe they are more important because of their positions –then they are fooling themselves and taking God’s glory and forgetting the standard they are to live by. They did not come by their learnings, giftings and talents by themselves. We as Christians are of all one body.

And though the moon is lit at night- it doesn’t produce it’s own light. For what happens when the earth sits in front of the moon- denying the sun’s light to hit it?

Earthly motives soon are exposed by lack of light.

Now quiet your being for a moment. Focus on the one who give us Holy Spirit filled motivations.

I first find gratitude/ humble thankfulness. What do you find?