Motivated By Love

There is no question that we all want to follow God wholeheartedly and do the things that are really pleasing to our Dad. Honestly though, we still find ourselves like Paul, doing that very thing we don’t want to do (Romans 7:18-19) or simply experiencing burnout in the continual effort. If you’re like me you’ve experienced success but you’ve also experienced crash and burn. I believe I have been experiencing the foundational answer to this dilemma. I guess at this point you’re saying, “I thought the theme was love”. Well you’re right. It’s all about love, God’s love as the fuel and passion for a life of consistent passion and drive. Please don’t turn a familiar eye and decide you’ve heard this before. Allow God to peel away some layers and uncover a new dimension of His love, affection and passion for us.

I have always been a pretty motivated person. I like to get things done. Through my years of high school, college and being in the work force and being a stay at home mom, it was embedded in my heart that my performance validated me and defined my value, defined who I was. A well-written paper, an aced exam, a year of good job performance resulting in a great work review or a spotless house made me feel great. I’d be motivated to keep doing my thing. On the flip side, a failed exam (yes I had some of those), or a reprimand from my boss (yeah, ok, I had some of those too), or a huge pile neglected laundry would deflate and depress me. Being a little more transparent, although I grew up in a great home, my esteem was lacking to say the least. In looking for love in all the wrong places (excuse the stolen lyrics) through my teen and young adult years it became even more damaged. A failed relationship would of course be my fault because I didn’t do enough or just wasn’t enough to make it work. After several of these experiences, I was kind of beaten down, but still trying to make things works because of course pressing forward and working hard was that way make myself valuable.

In 1983, I met Jesus and He brought me to a relationship with God. It was a relationship I had never thought possible where He said He loved me just for me. Awesome! Just what I had desired so desperately. In addition, He said it wasn’t about how hard I worked. Our relationship and connection was based solely on His mercy and grace. Wow! This was something unheard of and I welcomed this new relationship and threw myself into it. I was at church every time the doors were open, I read my bible and prayed and I hung out with other Christians. This was the life. Until the first time I didn’t do what I knew I was supposed to do. I forgot all about that love and acceptance God told me about and stayed far too long in guilt and depression. After a time, I would recover and begin to do the right things again. I would go on for a while and then miss a week reading my bible. That was terrible. I felt bad and it took me a minute to get on my feet again. Beginning to see a pattern? Well I didn’t. Even though I began to understand more and more about God’s grace and forgiveness, and didn’t feel the depth of disappointment in myself at failure, there was still that subtle desire to “do” to be really loved and accepted by God.

So here’s the dilemma, I knew I needed to obey God. His Word clearly says that I was supposed to do the things that are pleasing to Him. The bible is full of dos and don’ts and prohibitions. In theory, that worked fine for me because I knew how to get things done and make God happy with me. The “doing” however always put me back into that crazy cycle again. What my Dad has been letting me know is that I have been putting the proverbial cart before the horse, even after all these years, and I believe I’m not alone. God’s love is a powerful reality that includes deep desire, enjoyment pleasure and longing for us. This is the primary thing, the empowering thing that He wants to embed in our lives. He loves us, likes us, and pursues us. He just wants to be with us.

In St. John 17, Jesus prayed for the disciples to get a revelation of God’s love for them. This was the last time He was with them so what He prayed was His most important prayer for them. The people He was praying for were weak, immature yet sincere believers. These were people who argued about who was greatest and cut people’s ears off (well, just Peter, but you get the point). Jesus knew that in the months and years to come they would have to have a strong foundation to live for Him and where that strength would come from; the passionate love of the Father. The way that the Father expressed His love to them, the way He loves Jesus, is the only accurate measure by which we can understand what He feels about us. Sometimes this is difficult for us to consider because we see our immaturity and imperfection and conclude that we are somehow exempt from His love, favor and enjoyment. But, since God says He loves you the way He loves Jesus then you are marked by His love and you are the delight of His life (Matthew 3:17, The Message). You’re His favorite!

Now comes our response. As we choose to pursue His love, He responds and fills us with more ability to love and be loved. It only comes from Him. It is spiritually and supernaturally imparted. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God”. The word “know” (Hebrew: yada) is a word that means so much more than knowledge as we understand it. The dimensions of this word are tremendous. It is the same word that is used in Genesis 4:1 where “Adam knew his wife”. While there are sexual connotations, it means so much more. God is saying slow down and intentionally spend time with me to get to recognize, understand, and experience Me and I will make myself known to you. He is calling us to an eternal love affair. Love based obedience is the strongest kind of obedience because it results in the deepest and most consistent action. God’s fulfillment intoxicates our hearts and makes us lovesick. A lovesick person will embrace and endure anything for the sake of love. Don’t misunderstand, “obedience by faith” or obedience without feeling God’s presence is still required in His Word. In other words, we must continue to obey God when we do not feel like it.

The fear of experiencing the negative consequences for disobedience is legitimate (nobody wants to be punished) but it is not enough to motivate us to consistently resist the pleasures of sin and continue in service for a lifetime. Motivation for a lifetime comes from being in love. Consider this example. There was a man who had to make regular visits to the veterans’ hospital with his ailing father. He watched the wonderful care and service the nurses provided for the patients. During his years of observation, he would sometimes encounter a nurse who fell in love with a patient. The level of tender service and care above and beyond the call of duty astounded him. It was service motivated by love. Still another example is a wife who is deeply cared for and loved by her husband. She will go out of her way to meet her husbands’ needs and desires, looking for opportunities to please him. The reward of a lover is the power to love. A lover does far more than a worker who is moved solely by fear or duty, and does not care for any reward except for the power to love. Do you know what happens when the worker becomes a lover? They throw away the checklist! A lover no longer needs a checklist.

Living a consistently godly life is not always easy but we all have access to success. Jesus knew that the only thing that would stabilize the disciples’ hearts was to know how God felt about them. This is the strongest revelation that can touch the human heart. Jesus gave them the revelation of His love to prepare them to love and serve God under the pressures of condemnation, disappointment, temptation, disillusionment, and persecution in their future service. He provides for us in the exact same way. From this day on, I pray you would follow my lead and make it the passion of your life to pursue a revelation of God’s love, affection for and enjoyment of you. Allow it to define your identity, impassion your heart and prepare you for a level of satisfaction and success you have never experienced before.

Love and Blessings,
Pam Davis

Pam Davis is Associate Pastor along with her husband Terry M. Davis (Senior Pastor) of Christ Community Church of Philadelphia. She has been married for over 20 years and is the mother of 3 beautiful sons. I have personally known Pam for close to 10 years, and my first impression of her was the expression of love that radiated from her. Being a single mom and a missionary in training I was looking for a church in my neighborhood that would show love to the “throw away” women I was reaching out to. I knew I was in a place that loved the first time she hugged me. Again Pam, thank you so much for joining us at “The Kitchen Table”. And we so look forward to the next time you come to sit with us!....Ponnie


Pam will be back in May as part of our 2 week special on "The Heart of A Mother".....we know you won't want to miss her!

Saturday's Blog: Tovah...Life of a high school junior