So what's my motivation?

Do you ever pause and wonder why you do the things you do? Or maybe why you do them in the way that you do? I guess ultimately it comes down to what drives us, what motivates us.

In Acts 16 we see that it is the gospel that motivates Paul. It is what causes him to go round strengthening the Churches that he has planted, no hit and run evangelism for Paul he has taken the great commission seriously and is in the business of making disciples not getting decisions. It means he goes to the churches he has established and clarifies the gospel by explaining the decision reached at the Council of Jerusalem.

But we also see Paul's motivation by the gospel in his training up of Timothy. Here he takes on a young man who has shown his character already (16:2, Philippians 2:19-22) and looks to train him in serving the gospel. Even going so far as to have him circumcised not because he has to be, but because it will enable him to reach the Jews for Christ, to enter the synagogue and temple and be accepted. The gospel drives everything Paul does, it leads him to bend and flex in order to avoid putting barriers in peoples way.

Then in verse 5-10 we see that the gospel motivates Paul in his movements. He is always seeking to go somewhere and share the gospel. He tries to go to Asia but is stopped so he tries to go to Bithynia but is stopped. What does he do next? Well he doesn't fold his arms and say I'm not moving until God tells me where he wants me to go. Because God has been doing just that, telling him where he wants him to go. So Paul takes the only way left which is to head North West, as he does so God doesn't prevent him and he has the vision of the Macedonian man. This leads to the establishment of the church in Philippi by verse 40 because God is at work. What drives Paul is the gospel, he is continually looking for ways to share it, to build up those who already believe it by clarifying it. Because Paul is gripped by the wonder of the gospel, by what he was and what he has been made in Christ.

Am I that gripped by the gospel? Is it what drives me? How do I react to negative guidance? Am I ready to go where there is a need and trust that God will direct me where best to be to meet that need? I need the encouragement of seeing that it was as Paul went that he was guided, that I am not to sit and wait but to get on with taking the gospel to a lost world.