Motivated; but why?

I did it!  I was able to get my garage clean enough so that both our car and our van can fit, now I will not be scraping windows this winter.  Actually this has been a goal of mine each and every winter and I am pleased to inform you that I have achieved this goal with regularity.  You could say that I am motivated.  Why?  Because my logic says that if I have a two car garage then I need to be able to fit two cars in the garage, especially during the Chicago winters.  Why scrape windows if I don't have to, right?

This morning as I backed out of the garage in my frost free van, I had a thought and I am sorry to say I tried to ignore it.  I tend to do that when I know God wants me to think a bit more deeply.  The thought was this: What else motivates me to the point that I would spend several hours of free time to see it accomplished?  Ugh.  The answers weren't great from any spiritual, following Jesus angle; granted none of them are necessarily wrong or sinful per se but just not great.  I can work hard to clear my schedule so I can watch a football game.  I re-arrange things so I can sneak out to the golf course for a "quick" round.  I make time to surf the net and chat on Facebook.  But hey, I am not horrible.  I get real stuff done.  I read.  I write sermons.  I plan lessons.  I help people.  I am a pretty decent pastor.  Don't I deserve some pleasure?  Can't I enjoy a frost free van on a cold morning?

For me, the point that I think God wants to make in my life is that I be very careful to not make these simple pleasures of life a demand.  God does not owe me anything.  He does not have to give me a two car garage or even any garage for that matter.  Playing golf or watching a football game are not rights to which I am entitled.  When I am motivated to focus on creature comforts and making sure I get my share of them, then my focus is not on following Jesus but on working to meet my desires and protesting to God when life doesn't work out the way I had mapped things out.  Note the first person emphases in that last sentence.  When I am motivated by the first person, by me, I am motivated to pursue even good things for the wrong reasons.

Three statements come to mind as I think about making demands of God.  First of all in Matthew 6:25-34 we are reminded that our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and promises to provide.  Our task is not to "run after all these things" but to "seek first the kingdom of God" and trust God to make sure our needs are met.  The words translated "run" and "seek" have the same root, in other words both are seeking.  But the ones who "run" are demanding that they get the things they think they need.  They are motivated to obtain stuff.  The ones who "seek" have a different priority.  They are motivated to know God first and to submit to him first and restructure their lives according to relationship with him. 

Secondly, Jesus' words about what it really means to follow him from Luke 9:23 come to mind.  That I must "deny myself."  Wow, I have to not focus on me but on him and that is a daily process.

Finally a statement made by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer: "When I am in the presence of God, it becomes uniquely unbecoming to demand anything."  He died of cancer one month later.  I have that statement written in my Bible at the end of Job. 

The bottom line for me as a follower of Jesus is this:  Do the things that really motivate me and move me to action drive me to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus?  Or do they move me to think I can demand something from God?