In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the apostle Paul writes, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
We have various motives that turn up in almost anything we do or say, but it seems to me that in each of us there is invariably a baseline — a dominant motive behind them all.
Perhaps we could say that we are like a ship with multiple rudders. They each exercise some influence on the direction the ship goes, but the biggest rudder will determine the actual destination.
I suggest that our dominant motive is one of three possibilities.
The first is that we do what we do essentially to make things easier for ourselves, that is, we live our lives ultimately serving ourselves. The second is that we do what we do to make things easier for others, that is, we ultimately live to help others. The third is that we do what we do to make things easier for God, that is, our ultimate concern is to see God have his way with us and through us.
Let’s consider these motives. The first one of just living to serve ourselves is obviously a self-centered dead end. We’re dead even while we live.
The second of ultimately living to help others is noble and good, but it all to easily overlooks the fact that our deepest needs are spiritual in nature. Hence, we rarely know what people around us most need. That can give rise to a lot of help that — while perhaps making a desirable difference at the time — doesn’t necessarily help from the standpoint of eternity.
The third ultimate motive of living to see God have his way is the only motive worthy of dominating our hearts. Our hearts were fashioned after God’s own heart, and his heart has this singular motive behind all he does — he lives to pack as much blessing as he can into all he’s created, especially every human heart. That to me defines his glory.
If you adopt glorifying God as your ultimate motive, you will do what you do with a prevailing regard for what God wants to do in you and through you. Everything you do will be inspired by your friendship with him and then he can exercise as much influence as possible through you in the lives of others.
If this is going to be our predominant motive then the way forward is clear: we must surrender our hearts to Christ to be filled with his Spirit and then ask him to motivate us with what motivates him.
