B2B: What’s Your Why?

In this Back to Basics (B2B) blog series, the first question I want to ask myself is “WHY?”.

First Question: Why?

If my motivation is wrong, everything else will be wrong as well. The what, where, when, how, and who of my Christian walk will be out of whack if the why of my Christian walk is out of whack.

What Is Our ‘Why’?

So according to God’s Word, what is to be my why?

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40, NASB)

Our Motivation – Love

If my motivation in serving the Lord isn’t based on my wholehearted love for Him and my fellow man, then nothing else will be right. If my decisions aren’t based on this same love for God and man, then my decisions will be wrong. If my actions and behavior aren’t done out of love for God and man, my actions and behavior are worthless.

Paul put it this way: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NASB)

Peter put it this way: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8, NIV)

John said this: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8, NIV)

And Jesus, in the short amount of time He had left with His disciples before He went to the cross, had this to say–not just once–but multiple times: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB)

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” (John 15:12, NASB)

“This I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:17, NASB)

Most of the problems in our lives can be traced back to an honest evaluation of the question ‘why?’ Simply put, if the motivation behind our actions isn’t love, we’re on the wrong track.

Love – What It Is

I think it’s worth noting that love is a verb. It’s more than just an emotion or warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s more than just something you say. Instead it’s expressed in action. To say you love someone means proving it by what you do.

Action Points

Through prayer, let us examine our motives.
If wholehearted love for God and for all mankind isn’t our motivation, we must make the necessary changes. God’s Spirit within believers can and will empower us to make these changes.

Father God, thank You for Your Word. It is a mirror by which we see the right way to live and how we fall short. Give us courage to examine our hearts for the motivation behind all that we do. Convict us in those areas where we aren’t loving. Enable us to make necessary changes so we can be the disciples You’ve called us to be. Turn our hearts to You, so that the underlying motive in all we do is love. Amen.

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