What's Your Real Motive?

….not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God;  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward... (Colossians 3:22-24 KJV)

One of the things I sometimes hear when someone quits a ministry is, “I just didn’t feel appreciated.”  Huh?  I’m sorry.  That is one lame excuse.

No human should ever hold so much power over you that you would “quit” because they didn’t appreciate you enough.  The very idea that your “staying power” is dependent on the words of others is very revealing about why you got started in the first place.

GOD IS OUR SOURCE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT MORE THAN PEOPLE ARE.

Be warned.  The more you serve God and the more you serve others, the more imbalanced the ratio will become.  In other words, the volume of compliments will never match up to the effort you are giving in your calling/ministry.

BUT WHO CARES!

Whatever we do in service should be performed as “unto the Lord.”  No wimps are allowed when it comes to serving God in a ministry to others.  We should not expect a tummy rub every time we do something right.  Man up.  The honor we receive is in being obedient to Christ.  It will always be about serving for an audience of One.

Don’t get me wrong.  I believe in the power of encouragement.  I encourage people all the time and go out of my way to do so because I appreciate their labor of love.  And only God knows how many times I have been helped myself by a well timed word of encouragement or an expression of appreciation from a member in our church family.  After all, the Bible tells us to encourage one another.

However, serving for the affirmation of man is a guaranteed formula for disillusionment.

Everyone loves to be complimented.  I do too.  But it shouldn’t be our only fuel.  If God has called you to a certain task, then there is a straight line between just you and Him.  Whatever we get from other people is a bonus.  If compliments from other people are our primary fuel, we will continue to walk away every time we don’t hear what we want to hear.

This is why we have to make God our focus and not be motivated as menpleasers.