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Last week we began to explore what Gordon MacDonald calls the "motivation sector" of our inner world. He suggests that people can be divided into one of two groups according to what motivates them: there are people who are driven by personal objectives and goals, and people who live out of a sense of being called by God to fulfil definite purposes. The two kinds of motivation produce entirely different lifestyles.
Most of us would agree that the latter - the "called" lifestyle - is to be preferred. Yet, as attractive as the notion of living out of a strong sense of divine calling is, I question that this can be the ultimate source of motivation for Christ-centred practical living.
For one thing, the "called" life as MacDonald describes it can become a driven life as well. I know from personal experience how possible that is. For many years I lived out of a strong sense of personal calling to be a preacher and teacher of the gospel. That sense of calling became a driving force that pushed me far more urgently than any personal goal might have done. It made me work hard, deny myself, and neglect my family and my health - all symptoms of the "driven" lifestyle described last week. True, the objectives driving me were not self-orientated (I trust), but I nevertheless felt driven. I felt driven to "do a good job for Jesus and be a faithful steward of my calling".
A second reason for questioning the practicality of being motivated by a clear sense of divine call is that many people never know clearly what their calling is. Gordon MacDonald uses John the Baptist as a prime example of a man who lived a called life. But John surely is not a typical believer. The word of the Lord came to him (Lk. 3:2), launching him upon a ministry that he had been prepared for from before birth. A similar thing happened to David and to Paul, other men who lived "called" lives. God told them directly and unmistakably what he wanted them to do, something he doesn't do for ordinary Christians today. And that's what makes the idea of being motivated by a divine call impractical for most.
But even more importantly, the idea of living as a called person does not guarantee a Christ-centred life. Ideally, of course, it should. But it need not. It is possible, once assured of God's call in life, to set about accomplishing it in one's own strength and for one's own recognition or satisfaction. Knowing what God wants you to do does not automatically make you depend upon him or live for him. You can still end up being largely self-centred rather than Christ-centred.
What then is the proper source of Christian motivation? It is the gospel itself. At least that's what we find in Paul's letters. It is what God has done for us in Christ, and who we are in Christ, that is the great source of motivation for Christian living. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ," the apostle writes to the Colossians, "set your hearts on things above" (Col. 3:1). "In view of God's mercy," he says to the Christians in Rome, "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Rom. 12:1). How we live is to be shaped by who we have become by God's grace.
Yes, Christian living will be dominated by a sense of call rather than inner drives to accomplish personal goals. But that sense of call will firstly be a sense of call to belong to Christ, and to live in him unto God. There will be vision and purpose and a sense of stewardship - all these things. But it will all flow from the gospel and be energized by the gospel. That's the only safe source of Christian motivation.