Motivation

Walt’s Blog -“Motivation”
Over the years I have thought a lot about motivation. What causes us to do what we do, especially in the Christian life? It is possible that we do “good things” in order to be saved. On the other hand, we know that the highest and most worthy motive is love. So is it possible to please God by doing something that in and of itself is less than ideal, or even perhaps wrong, but is actually motivated by love?
If you had to choose one or the other, would you choose to do the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for the right reason? Of course we all know that the ideal would be to do the right thing for the right reason. I would think that it should be our desire to come to the point in our lives where what we do is motivated by love for God and also fits the high ideals He has for His children. But still I think we may at times seem to be faced with this question as to whether it is more important to do the loving thing or the “right thing”.
No doubt such a dilemma could only occur when our knowledge of God’s will is limited. Obviously, if we understand why He asks us to do this or that, it is much easier to see that His commands are always prompted by love. The issues of the Great Controversy often seem complex. Even though God said in the Ten Commandments not to kill, there were times that He commanded the Israelites to kill large numbers of people. While we realize that God’s commands are very important it is also vital to understand that God is very concerned with “why” we do the things we do.
Recently, my friend Dick Bascom told the following experience. He has a shop where he services and repairs trucks. One Friday evening near sundown he stopped to help a stranded motorist on his way home. He discovered that there was a problem with the engine and a new part was needed. He could fix the car by replacing and installing the part which would normally cost several dollars. But it was nearly Sabbath and his shop was closed on Sabbath. The loving thing would be to help the stranded motorist. The right thing would be to keep the Sabbath, which included not working or selling things on the Sabbath. What should he do?
What he did was to fix the car, including providing the needed engine part that very evening during Sabbath hours. However he did not charge for his services or for the part. Some might say he did the wrong thing for the right reason. A person with a very “legalistic attitude” might condemn such an approach, since the fourth commandment says “in it thou shalt not do any work”. On the other hand a loving, caring attitude motivated by the Holy Spirit may well have prompted Dick to do what he did. Perhaps the “missionary work” that he did on the Sabbath was true Sabbath keeping in God’s eyes.
Walter E. Brown

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