Devotions
What drives you?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
Words such as drive, motivation and ambition are sometimes used together, but they differ. Our message today is about “drive.” Experts in human behavior and psychology define the “drive” in simple words as “the reason why” you do what you do. We all have reasons behind our acts, sometimes we are not fully conscious of what they are, but they are still present. So what drives you? What urges you in the morning when you wake up to do what you do? The experts say that there are three main drives: the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power. A person driven by the need for achievement will always strive to accomplish something with their lives. The one who is driven by the need for affiliation needs to belong to a group, build relationships, and will generally go with the flow. Someone driven by the need for power wants to influence others. From the biblical view, I don’t think there is anything wrong with any of the above.
I wanted to talk about some other drives though, subtler drives we don’t want to discuss or even acknowledge because they touch areas of our lives we want to keep hidden. I call them subtle because they are not immediately obvious and are difficult to detect. They might be behind our need for achievement, the need for affiliation or the need for power. Don’t be surprised that sometimes or even most of the time, the real reason people do what they do is jealousy, hatred, envy, a spirit of rivalry and competition, etc. It is on the case for unbelievers only, but even in churches and among ministers of the gospel we find many driven by jealousy and rivalry. Otherwise, Paul would not have written “do nothing out of rivalry or conceit…” (Philippians 2: 3). This appeal was written to Philippi’s believers not in response to a crisis, as Paul did with Galatians and Colossians. The letter to Philippians was not a rebuke, instead Paul wrote to them in appreciation for their material support for his ministry and their moral standard. Nevertheless, he still felt the necessity to remind them not to be driven by empty motives.
Many years ago I watched a Korean historical drama that taught me a lot. It was about the founding of Korea’s kingdom; of course, much of it is fictional though they say it is based on history. The story is about how two princes fall apart. The youngest leaves to establish another country. He puts all the efforts and resources into that mission. The eldest stayed to take over from his father and wasted all his country’s resources trying to kill the youngest, to hinder his mission and later to destabilize the new country that his younger brother had founded, but failed at each attempt. The youngest would say over and over, “I’ve let go of all the grudges; I can’t let the desire for revenge control me because it will hinder my mission.” The eldest would say, “I can’t just think of anything else before I destroy my brother and everyone else who is with him.”
How many times do we hear sentences similar to the ones of the eldest brother? They might not be confessed out loud, but still, they are real and burning in people’s hearts. They show the real drive behind people’s actions. According to James, we ask and don’t receive because our motives are evil (James 4:3). Similarly, our toil doesn’t result in much when the wrong motives drive us. We may have a semblance of success but because the foundation is not solid it won’t last. It may have a semblance of lasting, but when the motive is wrong, the result doesn’t bring fulfillment. The only drive should be to give glory to God glory and build the rest of our endeavors from that only purpose. We are assured then not only to succeed but to live a life of fulfillment. Whatever you do, the “reason why” should be the desire to glorify God.
Posted : Feb 09, 2026