Motivated, but not determined

There is a 'determination' and 'willingness' phase to repentance - but I think we forget about the latter. We get all the determination we can muster, but we sometimes don't do very well in the willingness component because our 'will' is kind of selfish. Some say motivation is based on what we 'want', while determination is based on what we 'need'. For example, I 'need' to lose weight - I don't always 'want' to go to the extremes it takes to get to my desired goal! Motivation doesn't come from without - it is based on wanting something so bad we will do whatever it takes to get it. Determination can be spurred from without, coached to do something we may not have had the know-how to do on our own. We actually need both for repentance to actually 'work' in our lives.

Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. (Psalm 51:12 TLB)

Of all the things I can be 'made' to do in life, obedience is probably at the core of every 'need'. We have been sufficiently disobedient to the degree we realize our 'need' is somewhere far removed from where we are at this very moment. Without an obedient response to our 'need', we never seek the 'determination' to have that need met. We fill up the space where that 'need' should be with all kinds of other things, but not with what will really fulfill the 'need'. Motivation (need-based actions) might actually get me to the place I begin to put into play the things that will help me realize my need (determination) without wavering from my commitment to see that need met. 

Some have said motivation is what gets us started on the journey, but determination is what keeps us going until we have reached our destination. I think this may be very true, but until we realize our true 'need', all the movement we make is really not going to get us to our desired outcome. Obedience is good, but if it is not in the right direction, we are determined to finish, but we won't realize our need fully fulfilled. We are really wishy-washy about our needs - we must have God's clarity as to what we truly need and what it is that will get us to the full fulfillment of that need as he intends for it to be in our lives. Obedience begins by asking the hard questions - like "Is this truly what will get me over this grudge?", "If I take these steps, will I finally be able to resist this temptation?", or perhaps "If I lay down this desire to constantly fill that emptiness within with _______, will I begin to realize a closer walk with Jesus?"

The right questions can help us determine our true need. The need identified can help set out a course for us to follow. Motivation now meets up with determination - with both working to move us forward - but not on our own. We have God's help to obey - we aren't doing it alone. Until we have both, we are just aimless in our direction - we are not going to 'land' on obedience no matter how hard we try. Just sayin!

Avoiding Course Corrections

Have you ever had a bad motive?  Maybe there was a time when you simply felt you had "cause" to act a certain way - so you did.  Or perhaps you just felt moved to some sort of action, not really realizing where the "motive" to act came from.  Either way, I think we struggle with our "motives" more often than we'd like to think.  


A bad motive can't achieve a good end; double-talk brings you double trouble.  (Proverbs 17:20 The Message)  


Solomon gives us some wise advice here.  A bad motive will never achieve a good end.  Start out poorly and we usually finish poorly.  It is always more difficult to change directions than it is to continue on the course we are on.  If you have a GPS, you know what I mean.  Whenever you have experienced the little voice telling you she is "recalculating", you know what is coming, don't you?  Yep, it is the "command" to "turn right" or "turn left" at the next exit!  The GPS is redirecting you because if you stayed on the same course you were on, you'd be in a totally different "destination" than you expected!


Our motives often need a little "redirection".  Motives are kind of like the "accelerator" on a car.  Once you push down on the accelerator, the car is set in motion!  If there is no one "steering" the car, it can lunge forward through garage doors, plow over paths not intended to be traveled by cars, or run people right down.  There is way more to driving a car than pushing down on the accelerator!  Similarly, there is WAY more to living right than just getting a "few" of our motives under control!


In fact, we might just take an inventory over the course of one day.  I had a teacher in Bible school who asked us to do this once.  He challenged us to take a small tape recorder everywhere we went, as a means of keeping track of the words we speak, examining the impact of our words.  At the end, we were to "inventory" our words.  The inventory was difficult, to say the least!  In reviewing those tapes, I found out how many times I actually returned harsh comments with my own harshness, used words which did nothing to build up another, or simply avoided saying something when I probably should have!  


Now, I am not suggesting we all need to tape-record our communication for a day, but this was an eye-opener for me!  When I actually put two-and-two together, I saw how my own words were actually hurting some of my already struggling relationships!  Uh oh!  It was time for a motive change!  Nothing "good" was coming out of my "input" into the relationships!  I needed a "course correction".  


Sometimes our "course corrections" are not all that easy, though.  Getting off-course can cost us valuable time - especially as it applies to relationships!  Whenever we "stumble about" in relationships with others, we may find our time being eaten up by a whole lot of "course-changes".  Remember what I said about driving a car - it takes someone "driving" the car to actually keep it from doing harm!  The same is true in relationship - it takes someone "driving" the relationship to keep it on course.  Now, don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting it be us!  In fact, if Christ is not doing the driving, we will need a whole lot of "God Positioning Service" (GPS) to get us back on track!!!


Motives set things in motion.  Therefore, if we submit our motives to God first, we might just avoid the unnecessary and costly "course corrections" we have had to endure in the past!