Being Motivated By Love

If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

- I Corinthians 13:2

It is easy to slip into the place where we feel the need to flaunt our accomplishments. For some of us who, like the prodigal son, have messed up many times it feels good to finally be doing something right, and we'd love for as many or more people to see our goo an accomplishments as saw the mistakes we made. For others who are more like the prodigal's older brother and have tried to find their value in their works only to find it unfulfilling, the temptation is often to work even harder and make sure people see it.

In Philippians Paul warned those who were proud that they were keeping the law and religious customs. Their works gave them the idea that they were the top of the line, star Christians, but their self-righteousness and better than everyone else attitude caused division in the church. Paul told them to stop rejoicing in their own accomplishments and start rejoicing in the Lord.

Paul encouraged the Philippians and us to stop focusing on things to make us look good and instead live in such a way that people see the love and compassion of Jesus in our lives. He then listed his own accomplishments, which were many, and told how they amounted to nothing compared to the value of knowing Jesus.

There are no star Christians, no class system within followers of Christ. There is only one star, and that is Jesus. Whenever we feel the need to brag about over something we have or have done, the message is clear, don't. As Jesus said, those who do good works for the praise of others have their reward, and it's not enough to fill the empty and give us a true sense of value. Jeremiah put it this way, Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, (Jeremiah 9:24).

God looks at our hearts. He looks at the motivations behind our actions. God says obedience to His law of love is worth much more to Him than the sacrifice of following the law of religion. The law and all its do's and don't's put the focus on sin and us rather than on Jesus. God wants us to live love. This is why we are told that if we don't have love we are nothing. If we have everything that religion has to offer and don't have love of relationship then we have nothing. We show our faith not by works of holy acts and doing this or not doing that but by putting the love of God in our lives into action. Showing faith by works flows from love and is a condition of being in relationship with Christ, not by legalistic works or actions where the motivation is only to prove our faith or look good in the eyes of other Christians and religious people.