Motives

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and  his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."             – Matthew 6:25-33

I enjoy that small dimension of my life where I play the role of a motivational speaker. A motivator is like a spark plug. It will help a combustion engine get going, but unless there is a viable engine and fuel in the tank, the sparks will soon die out.

Yet, try to get an engine going without that initial "motivation." It simply will not "mote."

What motivates you? What ignites your imagination and activates your soul? Are you paralyzed or energized by the fear that you will not be able to provide the necessities of life for yourself and your family? Are you enslaved by the need to move forward economically or to build earthly security or is that just one of many factors that gets you up and gets you going toward a higher calling?

God cares for His own, for birds and lilies, and people who seek Him. His kingdom and His righteousness are of such great value that nothing else compares with them. 

Our task is to check in with what motivates us as we make important decisions and view the realities of life. We are to live with eternity in view at all times. By keeping first things first, we can eliminate the need to juggle multiple priorities or to fret over things that ultimately perish.