John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

Here we have John’s motivation for writing, which is likewise my motivation for writing this blog. Unpacking this sentence we can understand just how much is included. Believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, includes believing that He is the One promised from the Garden of Eden, who would crush the serpent’s head. (Genesis 3:15) It means believing that He is the One spoken of throughout the Old Testament, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. That includes the many passages, particularly in Isaiah but also many other places, that speak of God’s love for the Gentiles, and not just the physical descendants of Abraham. The result of such faith is life, and that doesn’t just mean the heart is beating and the lungs are moving; this is life in all its fullness, just as Jesus said in John 10:10. This is the eternal life spoken of in John 3:16, that begins from the moment of rebirth and never ends. This is life that is satisfying, fulfilling, and overflowing with peace and joy. There is no limit to God’s supply of this life, so sharing it in no way diminishes what is retained by the sharer; in fact, sharing increases your own appropriation of life! That should be sufficient motivation indeed!

I have operated with various different motivations over the years, but the Lord has been growing, polishing, and refining me to where I feel I can now say with all honesty that this is my motivation. That in itself is a great relief! Over the years I have done things to try to build myself up, to give me pleasure, to give me this, that, or the other. All of that is so empty and futile! I can’t say that I don’t have twinges of self-centered motivation even now, but my prayer is that they would continue to decrease. As a pastor, my unpacking of the motivation expressed in this verse extends to feeding believers the spiritual food they need to grow in their life, as well as correcting errors in what is believed, about Christ and about life, so that the traps and schemes of the devil may be defeated. For me and for everyone else, a proper appreciation of this verse should put everything into perspective, in this life and the next, and that’s certainly a good thing.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do pray that You would continue to refine my motives and my actions, so that everything I say and do would be for the right reasons, and so accomplish Your will for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!