What’s Your Motivation? - Paul

“I [Paul] am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”

Acts 21:13

In an interview in Forbes magazine, American industrialist Charles M. Schwab said that money was never his motivation for work. He said, “I work just for the pleasure I find in work, the satisfaction there is in developing things, in creating. Also, the associations business begets. The person who does not work for the love of work, but only for money, is not likely to make money or find much fun in life.”

Proper motivation goes a long way in determining whether or not your life will become everything God wants it to be. The apostle Paul understood that truth.

Paul changed the world for Jesus despite enduring incredible suffering and persecution on account of his preaching. He had been beaten, imprisoned, falsely accused, and according to tradition, executed because of his witness, yet he never considered quitting.

What would motivate a man to go through what Paul endured? Why didn’t he just settle into an easier life? The answer, very simply, had to do with love.

Paul served out of his love for Christ. After receiving a prophecy declaring that he would be bound and persecuted in Jerusalem for his declaration of faith, the apostle Paul said to a group of Christians in Caesarea, “Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).

Paul served out of his love for people. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, “May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows” (1 Thessalonians 3:12). Paul’s life was a fountain of love for other believers. Whether he was encouraging, rebuking, or praising believers in his letters, Paul did and said everything out of a spirit of love.

What is your motivation?

You find more joy and satisfaction in life when you serve God and others out of love and not from a sense of duty or obligation.