Bible Verses About Motivation
Introduction
Motivation in the biblical sense is the question of why: why do you do what you do, and what is the specific desire or the fear or the love that is driving the action behind the action? The Matthew 6's extended teaching on the giving and the praying and the fasting that are done to be seen by others is the sustained address of the question of the motivation: the right acts performed from the wrong motivation are the acts that have already received their reward (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16). The reward from the Father who sees what is done in secret is the specific reward of the right act performed from the right motivation. The motivation matters to the God who sees the inner reality rather than only the external performance.
The specific Christian understanding of the motivation is grounded in the prior love of God: the 1 John 4:19's we love because he first loved us is the comprehensive statement of the Christian motivation. The love that the Christian practices is not the love that is generated by the sufficiently motivated will but the love that is the response to the prior love that has been received. The giving and the serving and the praying that flow from the received love of God are the giving and the serving and the praying that have the right motivation: the response to the love of the one who first loved is the specific motivation that the Scripture commends.
The practical concern of the New Testament writers with the motivation is the concern with the purity of the heart that produces the genuine practice: the Colossians 3:23's whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters establishes the specific reframe of the motivation for the ordinary work. The working as for the Lord rather than as for the human master is the specific motivational shift that transforms the ordinary obligation into the specific act of the worship. The motivation is the specific transformation of the why that changes the character of the what.
These verses speak to anyone who is working through the question of why they do what they do, anyone whose practice of the faith has become the performance of the obligation rather than the response to the love of God, and anyone who needs the specific biblical grounding for the motivation that the Scripture commends for the work and the service and the giving and the living of the Christian life.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Motivation
The Hebrew word levav describes the heart as the center of the whole person's inner life: the motivation is located in the levav rather than in the separate rational faculty or the emotional faculty. The Hebrew word kavanah describes the intention or the directed attention: the specific orientation of the inner life toward the purpose of the act. The Greek word kardia describes the heart of the New Testament: the center of the person's willing and feeling and thinking from which the motivation flows. The Greek word prothesis describes the purpose or the intention: the specific aim that drives the action.
Bible Verses About the Right Motivation for Serving God
Colossians 3:23-24 — ("Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.")
The as working for the Lord not for human masters is the specific motivational reframe: the work that is done as for the Lord is the work whose motivation has been transformed from the performance for the human approval to the service of the Lord who sees the heart. The it is the Lord Christ you are serving establishes the specific identity of the one being served: the whatever you do is the comprehensive scope, and the Lord Christ is the specific person for whom the doing is the service. The you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward establishes the specific ground: the motivation is the Lord's reward rather than the human master's approval.
1 Corinthians 10:31 — ("So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.")
The do it all for the glory of God is the comprehensive statement of the motivation: the eating and the drinking and the whatever you do are the specific acts that are to be performed for the glory of God rather than for the glory of the self or the approval of the audience. The do it all establishes the scope: the motivation is not the special act of the extraordinary moment but the ordinary practice of the eating and the drinking and the whatever. The for the glory of God is the specific direction: the motivation is the glory of God rather than the benefit of the self.
Matthew 6:1 — ("Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.")
The to be seen by them is the specific wrong motivation: the giving and the praying and the fasting that are performed for the human audience have already received the reward of the human approval and have no reward from the Father. The be careful establishes the urgency: the wrong motivation is the specific danger that the careful person guards against. The no reward from your Father in heaven establishes the cost: the right act performed from the wrong motivation is the act that has lost the specific reward that the right motivation would have produced.
Bible Verses About Love as the Primary Motivation
1 Corinthians 13:3 — ("If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.")
The if I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship but do not have love I gain nothing is the specific statement of the insufficiency of the right act without the right motivation: the most extreme acts of the giving and the sacrifice are the acts that gain nothing if the love is not the motivation. The gain nothing establishes the comprehensive statement: the love is not the addition to the sufficient act but the specific ground without which the act has no value before the God who sees the motivation. The Paul's hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13 begins with the insufficiency of every act without the love: the love is the specific motivation that makes the act the act.
John 21:15-17 — ("When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?' 'Yes, Lord,' he said, 'you know that I love you.' Jesus said, 'Feed my lambs.'... Jesus said, 'Take care of my sheep.'... Jesus said, 'Feed my sheep.'")
The do you love me and feed my lambs and take care of my sheep is the specific connection between the love of Jesus and the service of the community: the service flows from the love rather than the service producing the love. The three times Jesus asks about the love and gives the specific commission establishes the sequence: the love of Jesus is the specific motivation from which the feeding and the caring flow. The service that is not grounded in the love of Jesus is the service of the wrong motivation.
2 Corinthians 5:14 — ("For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.")
The Christ's love compels us is the specific statement of the motivating power of the love of Christ: the compels is the strong word of the constraint, the specific force that drives the Paul and his companions in the ministry. The because we are convinced that one died for all establishes the theological ground of the compulsion: the love that died for all is the love that compels the person who has been convinced of it toward the service and the proclamation and the ministry. The motivation of the Christ's love that compels is the specific alternative to the motivation of the fear or the obligation or the seeking of the human approval.
Bible Verses About Pure Motivation
Proverbs 16:2 — ("All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD.")
The motives are weighed by the LORD is the specific statement of the divine assessment of the motivation: the self-assessment of the motivation is insufficient because all a person's ways seem pure to them. The weighed by the LORD establishes the specific accountability: the LORD is the one who weighs the motives rather than the person whose self-assessment consistently finds the motivation pure. The honest prayer for the examination of the motivation is the specific response to the verse: the Lord who weighs the motives is the Lord to whom the person brings the motives for the examination.
Psalm 139:23-24 — ("Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.")
The search me God and know my heart and test me and know my anxious thoughts is the specific invitation of the psalmist for the divine examination of the motivation: the searching and the knowing and the testing are the specific acts of the God who weighs the motives (Proverbs 16:2). The see if there is any offensive way in me establishes the humility: the person who prays this prayer is the person who knows that the self-assessment is insufficient and who invites the examination that only the God who knows the heart can perform. The lead me in the way everlasting is the specific outcome: the examination leads to the leading rather than only the judgment.
James 4:3 — ("When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.")
The you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures is the specific statement of the wrong motivation in the prayer: the prayer that is directed toward the self's pleasures rather than the purposes of God is the prayer that does not receive what it asks for. The wrong motives establishes the specific diagnosis: the unanswered prayer is sometimes the prayer that was asked with the wrong motivation. The implication is the examination of the motivation before the asking: the right prayer is the prayer that is offered from the right motivation of the glory of God and the service of the neighbor rather than the satisfaction of the self's pleasures.
Bible Verses About Motivation and the Heart
Matthew 22:37-38 — ("Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.")
The love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind is the comprehensive statement of the right motivation: the all your heart and soul and mind is the total orientation of the whole person toward the God who is the proper end of the love. The first and greatest commandment establishes the priority: the love of God is the specific motivation from which every other practice flows. The person whose heart and soul and mind are oriented toward the love of God is the person whose motivation for the giving and the serving and the praying is the right motivation.
Hebrews 12:1-2 — ("Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.")
The fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith is the specific statement of the right motivational focus: the running of the race is the running that is sustained by the fixing of the eyes on Jesus rather than the running that is sustained by the fixing of the eyes on the human approval or the avoidance of the failure. The throw off everything that hinders establishes the specific act of the person who wants the right motivation: the hindrances and the entangling sin are the specific things that redirect the eyes from Jesus to the wrong object.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Motivation is most honestly prayed from the honest examination of the actual why behind the specific acts and the specific invitation of the God who weighs the motives to search the heart and lead in the right direction.
Psalm 139:23 — ("Search me, God, and know my heart.") Response: "Search me. I am inviting the examination rather than defending the self-assessment. You know the motivation better than I do. Where the way in me is offensive and the motivation is the wrong one, show me. Lead me from the wrong motivation toward the right one. I am asking for the examination."
Colossians 3:23 — ("Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.") Response: "Let the as working for the Lord be the specific reframe of the work I am doing today. Not the performance for the human approval or the obligation to the human master but the service of the Lord Christ who is the specific one I am serving. Let me do the whatever you do from this motivation today."
2 Corinthians 5:14 — ("Christ's love compels us.") Response: "Let the love of Christ be the specific compulsion. Not the fear or the obligation or the seeking of the human approval but the compulsion of the love that died for all. Let me be convinced of the one who died for all so that the convincing becomes the compulsion that drives the service and the giving and the living."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about motivation? The Bible consistently presents the motivation as the specific concern of the God who sees the heart rather than only the external performance. Matthew 6:1's be careful not to practice your righteousness to be seen by others establishes the specific warning against the wrong motivation. Colossians 3:23's work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord establishes the specific reframe. 1 Corinthians 13:3's if I give all I possess but do not have love I gain nothing establishes the insufficiency of the right act without the right motivation. Proverbs 16:2's motives are weighed by the LORD establishes the divine assessment. And 2 Corinthians 5:14's Christ's love compels us establishes the specific motivation that the Scripture commends.
What is the right motivation for serving God? The 1 John 4:19's we love because he first loved us establishes the comprehensive statement: the right motivation for the service is the response to the prior love of the God who first loved. The 2 Corinthians 5:14's Christ's love compels us establishes the specific motivating power: the love of Christ is the specific compulsion rather than the fear of the judgment or the seeking of the human approval. The John 21:15-17's do you love me and feed my sheep establishes the specific sequence: the service flows from the love of Jesus rather than the service producing the love. The right motivation for the serving of God is the love that has been received from the God who first loved.
Why does motivation matter to God? The Proverbs 16:2's all a person's ways seem pure to them but motives are weighed by the LORD establishes the specific reason: the God who weighs the motives is the God who is concerned with the inner reality rather than only the external performance. The Matthew 6:1-18's specific teaching on the giving and the praying and the fasting that are performed for the human audience establishes the cost of the wrong motivation: the right act performed for the human approval has already received the reward of the human approval and has no reward from the Father. The God who sees in secret (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18) is the God who responds to the motivation of the heart rather than the performance of the external act.
How does the Bible address mixed motives? The Psalm 139:23-24's search me God and know my heart and see if there is any offensive way in me establishes the specific practice for the person who is uncertain about the purity of the motivation: the invitation of the divine examination is the specific act of the person who knows that the self-assessment is insufficient and who wants the honest assessment that only God can provide. The Proverbs 16:2's all a person's ways seem pure to them is the honest acknowledgment that the self-assessment consistently finds the motivation pure: the person who wants the pure motivation is the person who invites the divine examination rather than the self-assessment. The lead me in the way everlasting is the specific outcome: the examination leads to the correction and the leading rather than only the condemnation.
What is the difference between doing something out of fear and doing it out of love? The 1 John 4:18's there is no fear in love and perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment establishes the specific distinction: the fear that motivates the service is the fear of the punishment, and the love that drives out the fear is the love of the relationship with the God who has given the love first. The service motivated by the fear of the punishment is the service of the person who has not yet been made perfect in the love: the love that has been fully received drives out the fear and replaces it with the specific motivation of the love that responds to the love rather than the fear that performs to avoid the punishment.
