Motivation for the Christian Life

If we are saved by grace, why do we spend so much time talking about works?

Do you get tired by preaching that constantly reminds you to do more? Does it feel like you are overwhelmed by all there is to do in the Christian life?

It’s hard enough to be a Christian businessman or godly mother, but how does one also have the time to pray fervently, study the Bible intensively, invest in the church intentionally, and share the Gospel effectively?

Actually, Christians are justified by grace, through faith. God isn’t looking at all your achievements (or failures) and giving you an adoption grade-card by which to indicate how much he loves you. So relax. If you are in Christ, your adoption is guaranteed. Your justification is secure. And your sanctification will happen.

So, is that the end of the story? Certainly not. Because, of course, the Bible does command us to live a certain way. It teaches us to incorporate habits and practices into our life. It teaches us that we should pursue obedience to God, wholeheartedly.

Are we back to where we started? Do we, then, need more of those feel-bad sermons, those hang-your-head speeches where you start to feel guilty about all that you aren’t doing for the Kingdom?

Not at all. Such preaching is dangerous if it implies that it all comes down to us, which it doesn’t. The problem, though, is that when we read the Bible, we often sense the gap between the Christian life and our own lives. Zealous preachers, too often, try to close that gap by ‘guilting’ us into more obedience. But that doesn’t work, and it only makes us feel like we are under law, not under grace. There is a better method.

Albert Einstein once said, “When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself.”

What I am recommending, in other words, is that you stop focusing on discipline. Discipline is important – and you should pursue it – but it isn’t the main focus. The main focus is motivation.

This is exactly how it should be. God does not intend to ‘guilt’ us into obedience, but to overwhelm us with his grace. Once we are astonished by all that he is done for us – and once we recognize how wonderful he is – obedience will be the natural result.

This is the approach that the apostle Paul took in Ephesians. Chapters 4-6 are filled with instructions for how one should live – but Paul doesn’t even touch those instructions until he has laid out God’s grace to the Christian. For three glorious chapters, Paul paints a picture of cosmic proportions: that God has selected Christians from before the foundation of the world to be trophies of grace, uniting them to Christ, exalting them to heavenly heights, and displaying them before spiritual powers and forces in order to reveal a plan that will glorify God supremely as all things are ‘summed up’ in Jesus Christ. It is all so significant that you can’t really fathom it. But when your mind is impressed with it, obedience to God seems like the very least you can do – and it really seems so small.

I could put it another way. I could urge you to rise early in the morning, to read your Bible for 15 or 30 minutes before breakfast. I might even be reasonably effective if I told you how to gather accountability, set multiple alarms, make a schedule, and go to bed early. But it would be much more effective – and Biblical – if I showed you the glory of Scripture, how life-changing it is, and how God speaks to us in Scripture. Then, perhaps, you might find yourself sufficiently intrigued that you would want to get up a few minutes early, in order to squeeze it into your busy schedule.

My point is that motivation for the spiritual life should be the foundation for your discipline. I am not dismissing discipline – it is exceedingly important, and as a Christian, you must cultivate it (just read this dramatic excerpt if you doubt me). But your discipline must be founded on motivation. Unless you are motivated, your discipline will always be an uphill struggle. So here are a few recommendations for how to develop motivation:

1 – Spend time meditating on God’s grace. Spending one or two weeks to slowly read Ephesians 1-3, meditating deeply on the text, is sure to overwhelm you with his grace.

2 – Read Christian biographies. The stories of believers from the past, who overcame great difficulties, is always inspiring. Hebrews 11 contains many such stories, but there are many other excellent biographies of post-biblical saints that I find extremely motivational.

3 – Practice Memento Mori. There are few exercises which provide more immediate, powerful motivation than considering your own mortality. Death is a certainty, and while thinking about it may seem depressing, it is a most useful exercise. Think about the legacy that you want to leave behind. Consider what you might regret on your deathbed. And keep in mind the phrase that Christ will greet you with in paradise: “‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”