What Is Your Motivation

I was just thinking back to the days my folks were missionaries in Papua New Guinea. When we lived in town, we were right be the ocean surrounded by reef and coral. We made our own fish tank. We would catch our own fish using a hand net made of a coat hanger and some soft nylon screen sewed on. We had many adventures. We saw puffer fish, stonefish (highly poisonous), clown fish, jellyfish, sea horses, just to name a few. Every now and then we would stumble across something we had never seen before or stumble on something we’d rather not have seen. One such adventure was with a banded coral sea snake (extremely poisonous). We've seen them swimming along sandy the bottom. Sometimes, we saw them below us and froze, drifting over the top of them. It was always nicer with a snorkel, because then we could stay still longer, due to breathing. However, we had never experienced one vertical in the water. I’m not an expert on their habits, but our thought was it was getting ready to strike. I didn’t actually see, but my one brother warned the other one by screaming under water, a sound which carries. I saw them swimming faster than Olympic pace and so I didn’t wait to find out why. It was enough motivation for me. What motivates you to get up in the morning, to stay focused on your job or projects, or to treat others as you do? For some it might be the goals they set, while for others it might be money, or something completely different. I wonder how many are motivated by the Holy Spirit. It is not just about knowledge or about getting to heaven. Are you spiritually driven to accomplish the things of God daily?... at church, home, work, shopping, activities, etc. We talk about having to do things to get to heaven, but we need to be desiring to joyfully do His work now. We read in 1John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” We respond in gratitude. Like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair and tears, she did it to express her love and devotion for all Jesus had done. We are not to be motivated for the future as much as we should be motivated for today... to have an attitude of gratitude. We don’t do it because we are afraid of hell (or sea snakes), but we do it because we love Jesus and desire to serve His with all our whole being. Holy Spirit, stir in our hearts and instill in us a deep yearning for the things of God. Fill us with a deep desire to follow You. Amen