When I was a teenager, I bought myself a sweet ride. It was black and shiny. I added chrome rims with wide, low profile tires making speed bumps a hazard. I bought a stereo that was more for the listening pleasure or displeasure of those outside the car. I swapped the original steering wheel out for a small custom chrome wheel that made sharp turns a work-out. I fussed over that car. I washed it. I buffed it. I polished it.
I was so cool cruising the streets of my small, rural town in my ’69 Camaro. It was more than a mode of transportation from my home to school. It served a purpose that was beyond a mechanism to speed the activities of my day. My car was a representation of how I wanted my little world to see me.
However, there was a problem with my car. It was a problem that was beyond my financial abilities to fix. My Camaro rolled off the assembly line with a deficiency that belied its exterior. My Camaro was powered by only six cylinders. This is not the standard Camaro. Chevrolet did not build the Camaro brand on six cylinder cars like mine.
Camaros are known as muscle cars. The title does not come from having the same amount of horsepower as a family sedan. Muscle cars have the kind of power that will pin you to your seat with each stomp of the accelerator. They have an enticing guttural purr that speaks of their latent power even while idling. A muscle car earns its moniker by what cannot be seen. My Camaro did not earn any such moniker. It had no muscle under its hood. That is probably why my parents allowed me to buy it. My car was a sham. It looked the part, but it was not what people thought it was.
I would go on the Friday night cruise and drive really slow. Often, I would find myself sitting next to real muscle cars. They would rev the engine of their real muscle car and I would feel horsepower envy through my very being. I was forced to play a cool indifference in my refusal to race; like they were a contender not worthy of a response from my beast. All the while, I knew that I had a kitten under the hood. I hated the appearance of power without anything to back it up.
My car was all show and no go.
I wonder how often I have lived in a manner that my faith is more like a poser for the real thing just as my Camaro was. How often has my faith been all show and no go?
The Christian life is a response. All that we have has been given to us. We were saved despite ourselves while we were yet enemies of God. There is nothing that we can earn through the practice of our faith. We walk in a newness of life due to the grace that has been shown to us by our Father in Heaven. The only appropriate response is love. All other responses are a jumbled confusion of conflicting motives. Motivation originating from anything other than love is just another example of our old flesh trying to get back into play.
The power plant that drives the actions of a child of God is a heart in love with their Redeemer.
It matters greatly what is under our spiritual hood. We can be motivated by many things but love is the only attitude that unleashes the full power of the Spirit in our lives.
I am hesitant to even suggest the number of Christians who are living under-powered lives. I know my own heart. I know that my own selfishness slips into the motivations for many of the activities that I choose to do for the Lord. I can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. I have done that. I struggle not to do that.
I have seen teachers whose ministry is contingent upon appreciation.
I have heard indifferent worship given between snippets of the last week’s events.
I have known elders who operated with an ongoing list of wrongs done to them.
I have seen ministry leaders whose staffs feel beleaguered and taken for granted.
I have watched obedience offered to please a parent.
I have heard offerings being given in order to purchase privilege.
I have known accountability resulting in writing off a person who made a mistake.
Many of us look really good from the outside. We have all the appearance of power but what we really have under the hood is suspect. I think that it is very good to check one’s motivation. I think it is good to listen to what our lives sound like.
Why are you going on that mission trip?
Why are you helping at Church?
Why are you giving your money?
Why are you giving your time to ministry?
If you are doing it for any reason other than out of love for your Redeemer, then you are probably doing it in your own power. Consider how severely under-powered you will be and it will still gain you nothing.
Power is something that cannot be faked. At some point, our poser bluff will be called. Maybe, now is the time to check what you are running under your spiritual hood. A swap of motivations can be as easy as falling upon our needs in confession and crying out for help to our Father who has been waiting for the right attitude to flood us with the power of His Spirit.
PRAYER: Lord, you know my heart better than I do. You know that I do so much from the wrong motivations. I know that I am probably more of a clanging symbol than a beautiful melody to your ear. Father, help me. Help me to walk in a love for You and for my neighbors. Forgive me for allowing my selfishness to get in the way. Forgive me for all the right things that I have done out of the wrong motivation. I don’t want to be fake. I don’t want to pretend to be living in the power of your Spirit. I want to know the real thing. I will to live in your love and your power. Strip me of any motivation that is not pleasing to you. I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is just a means to an end.
That is a saying that I have uttered on many an occasion. This saying has been applied to countless insignificant, meaningless, or unpleasant activities that are completed in order to obtain a greater purpose. The greater purpose is the goal and the lesser activities are the means or method by which the goal is obtained. It is a principle that is used all the time.
Someone may have a goal of being a corporate CEO. The means to becoming the CEO is working all the various positions on the corporate ladder as they climb up to obtain the primary goal. Many of those jobs are not very rewarding. However, the CEO is the end; all the jobs along the way are the means. That is why they do them.
Someone may have a goal of becoming an elected official. The means to getting elected is going to all those political party functions, the “meet and greets”, the shaking hands, and the baby kissing. Campaigning can be exhausting. However, being elected is the end; the campaigning is the means. That is why it is done.
Someone may have the goal of becoming fit. The means to getting fit is eating less and exercising more. Working out is not that enjoyable. Eating less and healthy is not very satisfying. However, being fit is the end; working out and watching what you eat is the means. That is why it is done.
I think that everyone understands that it takes means to reach desired ends. However, there is a problem when we allow this mentality to drift into our relationships.
People are never means. People are always ends.
There is so much heartache that comes from people being treated as means to achieve some other end. People are often tossed aside when they have served their purpose.
The spouse who is left for a new source of happiness.
It is an unloving attitude to treat another person as a means; to treat them as a pawn in a grand strategy of obtaining a greater purpose. We are told that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. The goal for every person who we engage is to encourage, edify, teach, and train. The people with whom we interact should be better for that experience. They should be more joyful, more peaceful, and happier; they should feel like they have experienced kindness, gentleness, and goodness. They should know that they are loved after they have spent time with us. That is our end with other people. Our neighbor’s best is the end; love is the means.
In much the same way, God is never the means. God is always the end.
Many people seek out God to get something. They come to Him with expectations and when those expectations are not fulfilled they leave Him.
They want God to keep them out of hell.
They seek God for the purpose of obtaining those other things. They are not seeking God because He is God. We are told that the greatest commandment is to love God. Our primary purpose is to bring glory to God for who He is and what He has done. We bring God the greatest glory that is possible from us when we love Him with all that we are, think, and do. Bringing God the glory that He is due is the end; our love is the means.
In God’s plan, I am never the end; I am always the means.
I put myself in a bad place when I make myself an end. I was never intended to be my own personal end. I cannot be following the greatest of commandments when I have made myself an end.
We are making ourselves the end when we say things like, “I deserve <fill in the blank>; to be loved, to be happy, to be respected, to be appreciated, to be acknowledged, to be rewarded, to be feared. The results of not having our blank filled in, the way we want, is often anger, jealousy, envy, gossip, and coveting. Those sins are the fruit of making ourselves the end. We were never intended to be our own personal end; we have always been the means for showing love to God and others.
The good news is that we do not have to feel left out. One of the blessings of Christian community, as God intended, is that other believers will be interacting with you as their end. They will be showing you love as their means of encouraging and edifying you. This is one of the reasons that living within the Church, the body of Christ, is so important to our souls. It is when we pull away from those whose end is our best that we begin to start looking out for ourselves and our own personal ends; only bad results will come from that. We need to allow the means of other believers to work to their desired ends in our lives.
Now, we all know that the church is imperfect. Other believers can let us down. Other Christians often have their ends very confused and do a horrible job of loving their neighbors. We can come away after interacting with some church folk and be discouraged and feeling unloved. We need to learn to forget ourselves and understand that they don’t owe us anything. Their actions are often the result of sin and/or immaturity. Remember, they are our end; not our means. We do not need to rely upon them. We can rest assured that we will never be left abandoned in an emotional wasteland. God is always for us.
We are God’s end; His love is the means.
We are children of God. There is nothing that can prevent Him from showing His love to His children. He knows what we need. He knows that we need His peace, contentment, encouragement, and love. He knows how to give His children good gifts. When we make ourselves our personal ends, we are declaring our unbelief in the sufficiency of God.
We can trust God to fulfill us.
We can trust God to sustain our self-esteem.
We can trust God to give us happiness.
We are in the hands God. He is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is faithful and can be trusted with our emotional well-being. It is a small thing for the creator of the universe to fill you and me with joy.
We just need to trust Him with our hearts.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for showing me your steadfast love. Thank you for not leaving me to rely upon myself. Thank you for being sufficient in all ways. Lord, help be to show your love to my neighbors. Forgive me for being manipulative of other people and not loving them like I should. Lord, I pray that I will be a blessing to all those I meet and that they will feel loved by your steadfast love flowing through me. Amen.