ad majorem Dei gloriam

What is your motivation?  Why do you do what you do?

We all have reasons for doing what we do.  Money.  Power.  Love.  Fear.  Some are people pleasers.  They spend their life trying to make everyone around themselves happy.  Some people only focus on what will make them money or increase their power or influence over others.  Some people budget their time and resources based on an internal code of right and wrong.  They try to do what is right and act accordingly.

Why we are doing what we do is important. If someone comes up and gives me $100, I am going to want to know why.  What strings are attached to the money?  One winter day, we came home to find a plate of Christmas cookies left on our doorstep.  There was a few minutes where we couldn't figure out who had left them.  I remember thinking, "Until we know who left them, we aren't eating them." Now the cookies were from a neighbor and were much appreciated, but the lack of who or why made us uncomfortable.

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I recently finished a novel about a group of Jesuit Priests that after making contact with an alien race travel to another planet to meet "God's other children".  Their motivation is simple, ad majorem Dei gloriam, the greater glory of God.  For how many things in our life can we claim that as our motivation?

I go to work to make money and support my family.  I do yard work to make our house more enjoyable to live in.  I do my hobbies to relax and unwind.  I watch the Detroit Lions because...well I don't know why...probably out of habit.  In any case, how would life change if we could substitute "For the greater glory of God" as our motivation.  

I go to work for the greater glory of God.  I maintain my home for the grater glory of God.  I relax and spend time on hobbies for the greater glory of God.  The Detroit Lions....well you get the point.  I don't know how many of my actions would change, but the motivation sure would be different.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We are called to lover our neighbors, feed the hungry, help the homeless; and we are called to do it all for the greater glory of God.  Without the right motivation, the church is like the Kiwanis or the Moose Lodge or any one of the many organizations that help the community.  And they are good groups that do good work in the community.  

The difference between a church and a community organization is all about motivation.  When the glory of God is the motivation, it enriches the soul of the server and one being served.  And that is a big difference.