(Thanks to our
dear friend, Pastor John Canning, for inspiration on this
one.)
Legend tells the story
of particularly miserable first half played by the Notre Dame football team many
years ago. Coach Knute Rockne
delayed entering the locker room during the break until just before the second
half kickoff. He opened the door
and stepped inside, but then paused and turned around to leave, apparently as if
he were in the wrong place. “Oh
excuse me, ladies,” he said as he left, “I thought this was the locker room of
the Notre Dame football team!”
At the story goes, an enraged
Fighting Irish team annihilated the opposing team in the second half. This brings to mind the issue of
motivation. How do we encourage
ourselves and others to live lives that truly honor the Lord Jesus Christ in
thought, attitude, word and deed?
While working well with
young men in an athletic endeavor, Rockne’s method surely does not apply to the
living of a godly life. The love of
God is our motivation. “Walk in
love” (Ephesians 5:2). First, our
Lord reveals His love to us, drawing us to Himself through the saving grace of
the Lord Jesus. Then He deposits
His love in us when we believing, bestowing the indwelling Holy Spirit within
our heart. Finally, He works to
reveal His love by us unto others (I John 4:19; Romans 5:5; I John
2:6).
No ridicule or
belittling exists in this working of God in our hearts. He rather humbles us by rightly
revealing our limitations – “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). He encourages us by promising His ongoing
work within our hearts – “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). He warns us that such a work of love does
not preclude firm discipline, as necessary – “Whom the Lord loveth, He
chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6). He assures us of restoration when we fall –
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). And He promises an inviolability of
relationship that will ultimately result in our being conformed to the image of
the Lord Jesus – “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
A strong sense of respect
for us, as it were, permeates these ways of God regarding His motivating work in
us. Our Lord humbles without
humiliating because He bore our humiliation (Acts 8:33). Thus, His justifying work allows God to
deal with us in a manner of solemn dignity and devotion to our ultimate
conformity to His Son. Such
understanding of our Father’s way will increase our respect for Him, our love
for Him, and our motivation to honor Him by always playing our second half far
better than the first.
“Though the LORD
be high, yet hath He respect
unto the lowly.”
(Psalm
138:6)
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