What Motivates You To Do What You Do?

Motivation.

What motivates you to do what you do? Does anything motivate you to do what you do?

I've recently found conviction in the question of motivation. What are my motives in the actions I take?

I may read my Bible every day, but is it just an item to check off the list? I may tell others "I'm praying for you", but do I speak that phrase simply because it's the expectation in times of need? I may go to church─maybe even Sunday school too─but am I just going because that's what everyone around me is doing?

It's really easy to fall into patterns. 

You know that to be true, and I know that to be true. We may go to church every week─why? Well, because that's just what we do. We bow our heads in prayer before meals, because that's just what we do. We recite scripture with the congregation at church, because that's what we do. We take communion and engage in the Lord's Supper...because that's what we do.


But why is that what we do?

What is our motivation? Do we have motivation? Or are we simply going through the motions.

I don't mean to be a deadbeat, but it is an honest question. What is our motivation?

I've decided to give something up for Lent this year.

[Facebook.] It's pretty stereotypical, I know.

But for me, and where I'm at, giving up Facebook opens up a whole new realm of commitment.

Checking the Facebook feed on my phone is one of those things that I do without motivation, out of instinct. For me this habit is the epitome of going through the motions and falling into patterns. If I'm waiting for class to start, I check Facebook. If I'm waiting for someone after class, I check Facebook. If I'm not even waiting but just sitting around, I check Facebook.

Even if I've just looked at Facebook three seconds ago, I'll check it again. Why? I don't know─it's a habit.

It's become such a habit that sometimes I'll open up my phone with the intention to do something else, and realize thirty seconds later that I've opened up Facebook instead.

So from the suggestion of a friend, we have both decided to give up Facebook for Lent. (Okay, we can still use Facebook at the gym to keep up with friends and family who blog. And to keep up with my mother, whose daily dose of sarcasm I surely can't live without.)

On a side note, just to clear the air for our near and dear friends who have doubted us─we don't just sit in the gym on our phones. We only check Facebook if we're actually working out. Pro tip: take advantage of the bikes. They work wonders, at least where Facebook is concerned.

So what is my motivation with this "Facebook fast"? 

That is the question. The intention here is that I'll use the time usually spent just aimlessly on Facebook in conversation with the Lord. A conversation is ongoing, and to use those moments throughout the day to even say the briefest thanks to the Lord, that conversation is kept going. That is the hope, anyway.

I've already realized how easy it is to find other things to occupy my time. My new seducers are Instagram, Huffington Post, and Snapchat. And that's where I need motivation. I'm not giving up my daily doses of Facebook because "that's what I'm doing." I've got a purpose with this.

The test will continue to be keeping that purpose and intention front and center.

[Interested in reading more? Check out the Blog Archive to the right to find links to my other posts.]


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