Motivation for Ministry

We speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. —1 Thessalonians 2:4

When it comes to serving God, what’s your motivation? The answer matters to God. He cares not just about what we do or how we do it but why we’re doing it in the first place.

I dare say many of us have some self-centered motives when it comes to ministry. But I also think we want to move past those motives into true service for the Lord. A good person to look to for inspiration is Paul.

Through Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica, we get several guidelines for our motivation for ministry. First, when Paul spoke, he wasn’t doing it to make others happy but to please God (1 Thess. 2:4). Second, he wasn’t trying to get something from the Thessalonians (v. 5). Instead, he wanted to give them the gospel.

And finally, Paul wasn’t serving to get glory from people (v. 6). The same should go for us. Our goal in ministry shouldn’t be to get more “likes,” Instagram followers, or Facebook friends. Ultimately, our goal should be to glorify our heavenly Father.

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“Portrait of an Effective Servant” (Revive Our Hearts series)

Scripture taken from The CSB