The Supreme Motive For Serving God

People serve God out of different motives, some proper and others not so proper. Some serve God for simply the fear of hell fire, others out of necessity, while others out of personal gain, some think that by serving God they will be exempt from the hardships of life. There are also those who serve God simply because they desire to please God, others serve because they want to go to heaven, still others do not want to be called unfaithful etc. Let me pose this question, what is the supreme motive for serving Our heavenly father? I believe the question is answered in Mark 12:29-31, “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these”.

The Bible has much to say about loving God, note with me a few passages. “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” Deuteronomy 6:5. “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,” Deuteronomy 10:12. “O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer” Psalms 31:23. “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” 2 Thessalonians 3:5. “Our Love for God requires something out of us. In John 14: 15, Jesus said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” In verses twenty -one through verse twenty -four Jesus said “He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me”. There can be no doubt that our love for God should be our supreme motive for service.

Is it the motive for our worship? Our heavenly father wants us to worship him in spirit and truth, certainly with the proper motive John 14:24, 24. Do we worship to appease our conscience, or perhaps to say we have completed our responsibility for the week, or maybe to stay in the good graces of the church. What is the real motive for our worship? Is it because we deeply, genuinely, completely love God and love being with his people in praising him. One must be honest with himself and deeply examine himself to really find the answer.

Is love for God the real motive in loving one another? For the one who loves God will love his brother also 1 John 4:21. If a person hates a brother he cannot love God, 1 John 4:20-21. We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments 1 John 5:2.

Is love for God the motive in loving our enemies? This is not an easy commandment! Never the less it will bring to light just how much we love God. Jesus loved his enemies to the degree of dying for them so they would have the opportunity to be saved, Romans 5:5-10. Is your love for the father motived his obedience, John 14:21. How do you feel about your enemies? The answer will shed light on the depth of your love for God.

Does the love of God cause you to spend time with him in prayer and study of his word? This is mutual communication. Prayer is your communicating with God, Study is God communicating with you. We study to present ourselves approved of God, 2 Timothy 2:15. We should study and mediate on the Lord’s word because we love him and want to know what his will for us is, Psalms 1:1-3 and Ephesians 5:17. We pray because we love God and want his help in difficult times and to thank him for all the blessings we receive from his gracious hand, Philippians 4:6. How much do you study and how much do you pray?

Does our love for God motive us to live a life of holiness? We are keep ourselves unspotted from the world, James 1:27. We are to be holy because we love him and want to be like him, 1 Peter 1:15-16. Do you love him enough to put forth every effort to keep ourselves unspotted from the world?

Does our love for God motive us to serve him out of reverence and Godly fear Hebrews chapter twelve and Godly fear. What service are you rendering to God and out of what motive are you rendering it?

My friends if our love for God was our supreme motive in service, we would have no problem with missing worship, tardiness, prayer, study, striving for holiness and the like. We would be much more like Jesus in doing those things that please the father.

Bill Cantrell