What motivates you? Do you even have a motivation? Is it your own ego? Is it fear? Is it other's opinions? Is it your Creator? Do you know our motivation is important? What motivates us determines how well we do.
If you ego motivates you, then you will do things with selfish ambition. Paul tells us how we are to think about ourselves in a passage about imitating Christ:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4
Do you think Christ would have gone to the cross had he been thinking about himself and feeding His ego? No, He would have given into Satan's temptations a long time ago.
Are you motivated by fear? There is a great quote about horses being motivated by fear:
You can never rely on a horse that is educated by fear. There will always be something that he fears more than you. But, when he trusts you, he will ask you, what to do when he is afraid. Antoine de Pluvinel
The same can be said of us, if we are motivated by fear, then we will always be afraid of something. The Lord tells us in His Word to not be afraid 365 times, one for each day of the year. Check out our #CornerstoneVerseOfTheDay on fear to learn more. The bottom line is we are to trust in the Lord, and when we do we will be able to boldly live our life according to His ways and shine like the stars (Daniel 12:3).
Are you motivated by other's opinions? This is another form of fear. Paul again tells us how our opinion of others is supposed to be:
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 1 Corinthians 4:3-4
Paul was not swayed by man's opinion, neither were the Apostle's, including Peter in Acts 5:
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! Acts 5:29
The apostles were being persecuted for preaching about Christ in the temple of the Lord. The Religeous leaders were not happy about this because Christ fulfilled all the laws (Matthew 5:17) they were trying to impose on the people. He also accosted them publicly throughout His ministry (Matthew 23). This put the followers, His apostles, in hot water with the religeous leaders. Guess what their attitude was about being imprisoned, flogged, and thrown out of the temple:
His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Acts 5:40-42
They were not swayed by the opinion of others in any way and their stories are recorded to be an example to us and how we should live.
We are to live, each and every day, according to the approval of our Creator. This is the highest form of love, this is called agapao love. It is a love that shows esteem of the one we love. It is a love indicating a directin of the will and finding joy in something of someone as well as loving with another's best interest at heart. When you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, you love Him with an agapao love. That means everything you do, you do to the glory of the Lord.
This also goes for our horsemanship as well. The Lord has entruest the horse to each and every one of us and we are to work with that horse to the best of our ability, according to what we know, in accordance to the One who created them.