What will
motivate us to keep loving and living for God when it’s not easy, when counterfeit
goods look more real or rewarding, when people challenge our lifestyle or urge
us to join their party, trials come and blessings seem absent, when we are
alone for Christ without support, when God seems distant, when we lose our joy,
when life is unfair, painful, discouraging or hopeless?
When we
consider the Bible’s ethical teaching, we find that three key factors should
stimulate and motivate our love for God and neighbor.
Memory: God’s love compels us. His
prior love, grace and goodness inspire our love, grace and goodness (1 John 4:11,
19; see also Exodus 20:2 (// Deuteronomy 5:6); Deuteronomy 6 and 8; Psalm 78;
Romans 12:1-2)
This reality
is built into human nature. When we receive
love and grace, we want to respond to
its giver – not to earn what is already given, not to repay, not to earn more –
simply to express our gratitude and love. God knows we can neither save
ourselves nor repay him; that’s why he saves. He says, “I love you. You need
me. I have compassion on you.” We respond with grateful, joyful service and
love.
We love because he first loved us (1 John
4:19).
Identity: God’s grace changes us. He
gives us a new nature and identity that we grow into (1 John 4:7; see also
Ephesians 4-5; Colossians 2:6-3:17; 1 Peter 1-2; 1 John 2:28-3:18; 4:7-21).
Through the work
of Christ, God makes us new, and his Spirit empowers us to live our new
identity. As we trust and submit to God, he makes us the people we already are
in Christ. As God’s children, we learn to bear the family traits; as rescued
slaves, we learn to live in freedom, as new creatures, we learn to bear God’s
image and reflect his glory; as royal priests, we learn to worship and serve God;
as forgiven sinners, we learn to forgive; as saints, we learn to live holy
lives; as beloved sons and daughters, we learn to love.
Those who have been born into God's family
do practice of sin, because God's imparted nature is in them. They can't keep
on sinning, because they are children of God (1 John 3:9).
Hope: God’s vision and victory motivate us.
We believe in a just God, hope for his renewed creation and we join him in
making it happen (1 John 3:2-23; see also Psalm 73; Matthew 6:10; 1 Corinthians
15; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7:1; James 5:1-11; 2 Peter 3).
We see God
working to redeem and renew our hopeless, broken and dying world. We see him
bringing heaven to earth and healing people to the wholeness and harmony they
were created for. We recognize this restoration as glimpses of God’s grand work
of redemption, glimpses of his glory piercing the darkness. We catch the vision
and join the cause to make his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
We know that we will be like him, for we
will see him as he truly is. All who
have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure (1
John 3:2-3).
