Motivation

What motivates you? I am finding that pure motivation is difficult to find. I desire to be motivated by an inner passion for glorifying God with every part of my life. I find that more often I am motivated by a superficial need to be loved, appreciated, and emotionally fulfilled. I say superficial, because deep down I know that I am loved - by God, by my family, by the people I influence. But for some reason I do not accept that as something settled, something set in stone, something immovable. I seem to base my actions on an unexplainable and unnecessary need to KEEP the love of people, and even of God. Love for others is actually motivated by a need to generate more of their love for me. The most amazing part of Christ's self-giving act of sacrifice on the cross is that people didn't even know what was going on. And still don't. He did it without any guarantee that it would be appreciated, understood, or reciprocated. What motivates that kind of love, that kind of sacrifice, that kind of risk? Well, you might say, "He was God, he could know the future, and since it was his own plan, he had to know that it would work, at least with some." Okay, well, if I trust God's word to be true, he has made me some guarantees for me too, that what I do will yield eternal results, whether or not I receive personal benefit on earth. Why is it so hard to simply claim those promises and live motivated by eternal purposes and not personal gain? Lord, teach me your ways. Show me how to walk in your truth. Lead me in the way everlasting. May my life reflect a total inhabitation of your Spirit. Transform this sinful flesh into a person motivated only by your glory and grace.