Motivations to live for him and serve His mission.

 Number 1: Humility

Those who live close to Christ, see, know and grow in true humility, a humility which accepts a powerlessness and growingly small world significance in order to further the missional, loving purposes of God in his redemption and grace. 

 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself...

The humility which comes from knowing Christ starts with wonder. The great mystery of Christ's spectral shift and incomparable, incongruous  incarnation relegation leaves no other appropriate response than breathless appreciation. He did it for us. By choice when we chose the rejection of self adulation, limit our reputation, confine our sphere of influence, become liberated with self forgetfulness in response to Christ's love for us, the great paradox is that in God's purposes is that we grow in eternal usefulness. 

Humility is a choice, which becomes a growing Spirit encouraged habit as we grow in Christ each day, reading His word, meditating on Him, and letting our hearts, instincts and desires be ruled by Him not ourselves. 

Humility is active, going to the lost and broken, choosing to engage with the pain of others, taking on the role of intercession for things which are ours not by legal right but by missional motivations of grace. 

Humility has a path of successive development. Choosing to go lower for Christ is not solved by a single step, but a succession of decisions whereby each is harder than the last. Biblical humility means that we can end up in a place which is unrecognisable from where we started. 

God's path of humility always has purpose. 

After Humility before God there is always glory. In Christ we see that nothing is wasted, all of God's purposes and promises are Yes and Amen. Glorification is certain for those who walk the path. Those who follow are never fools or made fools of by God. His certainty is that path of humility leads us to greater fruitfulness, ultimate influence and impact in the spiritual realm. The prayers of the righteous are effective, the unseen acts of the humble are seen by Him. This is all that counts. 

Love Christ in humility for all He has done for us, Walk successively out of obedience, not looking back to where you have come from but with eyes fixed on (him not the gaze of others). Love others in humility by repenting of pride and serving the missional purposes of God's grace in others, one step at a time. Cover your life and those around you in prayerful dependence on the only one who makes all things fruitful. He is able...

Matthew 23:10

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, 

and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.