For the first time in many years I didn’t fill out a bracket for this year’s March Madness. Many of my close friends and family members completed their annual brackets. For some reason, I just didn’t feel motivated to participate. Now, in the big scheme of things, I’m not even sure that filling out a bracket could be classified as completing one of the mundane tasks of life.
As you know well, some days it is easier to be motivated to do our work than on other days. We can be stifled by illness, fear, mistreatment, loss, challenging relationships, weariness, feelings of not being appreciated, and one million other difficulties that might slow us down.
You might say that our brother Paul, had every reason in the world not to be motivated, “I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in dangerof death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:23-18)
Yet, he kept going. His ultimate justification was Jesus. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) Being motivated by Christ will keep us moving forward, even in the most challenging days in our lives.
What are some other factors that motivate you on days you struggle with feeling motivated?
