There is a poignant proverb most know well: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
A common meaning of this proverb is that an individual may have the intention to undertake good actions but nevertheless fail to act. This inaction may be due to procrastination, laziness, or other subversive vices. As such, the saying is an admonishment that a good intention is meaningless unless acted upon.
Another interpretation of the saying is that wrongdoings or evil actions are often undertaken with good intentions, or that good intentions, when acted upon, may have unintended consequences. Often, what we intend our actions to accomplish backfire with undesired results.
Sadly, the reasons or motivation for man’s actions are often far from pure. Some people are outright deceitful, but there are those who intend to do good, however the real motivation behind their actions is often driven more by self-gratification rather than by purely outgoing concern for another.
Sincere deep motivation is very hard to discern. It is very difficult to know what motivates someone just by the actions we see, and harder to comprehend why they personally respond in the ways they do. The “heart” hides or obfuscates itself even from its very owner. In other words, we can do the correct actions but for all the wrong reasons.
Motivation is just as important, if not more so, than our actions. The website “VeryWellMind.com” defines motivation as: “…the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. … the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior.”
This means our actions often are not primarily driven and directed by conscious, cognitive, critical thinking. Our biological hormones, our emotional maturity, and social interactions often have more to do with how we react than our own self-aware thought processes.
Continuing the quote: “In everyday usage, the term “motivation” is frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions.
“Motivation doesn’t just refer to the factors that activate [or initiate] behaviors; it also involves the factors that direct and maintain these goal-directed actions (though such motives are rarely directly observable). As a result, we often have to infer the reasons why people do the things that they do based on observable behaviors.”
Clearly why people do what they do can be difficult to discern. Though several people may act in the same manner, the underlying reasons may be vastly different. This is a reason why trust between individuals is often difficult to achieve. The intent or reasons for actions differ.
However, motivation is important. Without motivation, accomplishment is limited. Successful businesses recognize the value of motivation and work hard to leverage their employees’ natural, intrinsic drivers to gain more from their employees. There are 7 motivational drivers in an article in EntrepreneurHandbook.co.uk:
Achievement – Those motivated by this driver want the satisfaction of completing projects successfully. They want to exercise their talents to attain success. They’re self motivated if the job is challenging enough.
Authority – Those motivated by this driver receive satisfaction from influencing and sometimes even controlling others. They like to lead and persuade and are motivated by positions of power and leadership.
Camaraderie – Those motivated by this motivational driver are satisfied through affiliation with others. They enjoy people and find the social aspect of the workplace rewarding.
Independence – Those motivated by this driver want freedom and independence. They like to work and take responsibility for their own tasks and projects.
Esteem – Those motivated by this driver need sincere recognition and praise. They dislike generalities — they want praise for specific accomplishments.
Safety/Security – Those motivated by this driver crave job security, a steady income, other fringe benefits, and a hazard-free work environment. These employees often worry about getting let go.
Fairness – Those motivated by this driver simply want to be treated fairly. They probably compare their own work hours, job duties, salary, and privileges to those of other employees to ensure they’re getting a fair shake. If they perceive inequities, they’ll quickly become discouraged.
One or more of these intrinsic, natural motivators gets individuals up and moving each day. Some of these drivers may be deemed more noble than others but all of them are self-centered or self-motivated. If one or more of these motivators do not exist, an individual will most likely become laxed, careless, apathetic, or lethargic.
A Christian’s motivators are to be different. Our motivational drivers are not to be intrinsic and self-oriented. They are to be extrinsically outgoing and spiritually given to us by God. Scripture reveals three very important extrinsic, spiritual motivators to help us navigate our lives through its twists and turns.
Beginning with the highest motivator and the one from which God operates is found in I John 4:7-10: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
God’s love is imbedded in Him and is not dependent or conditional on how His creation responds. His desire is to develop His love in us. He wants His motivation to be our highest motivation:
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (I Corinthians 13:1–3).
The highest motivation of love is the spiritual expression of God’s divinity, His Spirit. If love is not the primary motivation for our actions in the life we live, then we are basically noise that comes and goes. Without love, we are of little value.
So, how does behavior motivated by love act?
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13: 4-8).
Love is the greatest because it never fails to accomplish God’s Will with God’s full intent and motivation. Godly love is always motivated by 100% outgoing concern for others. No other factors have an effect on the motivation of love.
While godly love is the greatest motivator, there are two other primary motivators mentioned in I Corinthians 13: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). With love being the greatest, working backwards, hope and faith are two more primary sincere motivators.
Regarding hope as motivator, Psychology Today describes “hope” as not only as a positive emotion but also as a “dynamic cognitive motivational system”.
This means hope is based on cognition (knowledge and thoughts) and guides how one views life rather than “feelings” driving one’s view of life. Hope leads to goal setting which leads to growth and improvement. Individuals who set goals are actively engaged in growing, constantly planning strategies to meet those goals, and monitoring progress to stay on track.
Research shows that goals positively relate to success across the wide swatch of life – physically, mentally, and spiritually and emotionally. Living, dynamic hope drives one to the finish line.
When one lacks hope, feelings win over knowledge and thought (cognition). Those who lack hope tend to adopt goals that are easily mastered and offer less challenge and growth opportunity. These goals are often based on their innate talents, skills, and abilities which do not require much vision and planning to accomplish.
When the goals fail, those with little hope quit, act helpless, feel a lack of control over their environment, and don’t believe they have the capacity to obtain a future different than they already have.
However, those motivated by hope set goals to develop, learn, and grow to overcome the challenges life presents in order to reach their goals. Hope allows people to approach problems with a mindset and strategy geared and primed for success, thereby increasing the chances they will accomplish their goals. Hope is what moves us to get over the finish line. It pushes us to the end when mere physical strength is not enough. Strong emotional hope is based on deeply rooted knowledge and truth.
While hope is a huge factor for our personal motivation to follow God, hope does not stand alone. It is based on belief in attainable goals. This is where the third sincere motivator, faith, comes into play.
Regarding faith as a motivator, Psychology Today defines faith as “unwavering loyalty, belief, and trust”. Scripture defines faith as: “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 CSB).
When someone has true sincere faith in something, they operate on the truth that it is real and attainable (reliable). They become motivated to spend much of their time and energy in pursuit of it. Some will even sacrifice their lives. This is what makes faith such a powerful sincere motivator.
Nevertheless, we live in an ever-growing material and physically centered environment where faith is in what one can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. Only things sensed physically are real. Thus, most put their faith in men, wealth, health, youth, fame and such. These are all temporal. God tells us these should not motivate us because we cannot have faith in both the physical and the spiritual, in both darkness and light:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:19-21,24).
Either God is real as are His promises or a godless world is real as are its consequences. Faith in God reveals that there is no middle ground, and our faith, our trust and confidence is fully in Him. It is believing everything we do is to be spiritually motivated not physically.
The patriarchs and prophets fully believed this and were loyal to God: “For by [faith] the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:2, 4-39). (The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 names many of God’s faithful servants.)
“Obtained” and “testimony” are the verb and noun form of the same Greek root word “martyr” meaning “witness”. The patriarchs and prophets “witnessed” a good “witness”. The motivation for their actions was based on faith. Their reality was God and all the promises which were yet to be realized were as real as God was. True faith must be the motivator from which we express all matters “. . . for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
If any action is done without regard to the reality of God’s existence, it is the wrong motivation. It originates from our heart and purpose, not His heart and purpose. If we believe God is real, why would we ever act on anything without consulting Him?
Imagine what the church, the spiritual body of Christ, would be like if our motivational drivers moved from self-centered, intrinsic, physical motivators to open, sincere, extrinsic, spiritual motivators.
Instead of being driven by the natural intrinsic motivators of achievement, authority, social interaction, independence, esteem, safety/security, and fairness, we become driven by the godly motivators of love, hope, and faith.
We would see a Church without competition, elitism, judgement, factions, comparisons, fear/anxiety, and partiality. We would see trust, cooperation, affection, confidence, love, hope, and faith. Instead of criticism, there would be loving exhortation.
That is how we become a reflection of Jesus Christ.
Bill Hutchison