What Motivates You?

All of us are motivated by something.  In simplest terms, our human nature often drives us to crave one of the three P’s:  Pleasure, Possessions, and Power.  Jesus explained it like this.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.  I John 2:16 (NLT)

I like to think my motives are completely pure.  Which is why I was recently surprised when I took a personality test that showed otherwise.  (Ok, maybe I wasn’t all that surprised, but the exercise itself was quite enlightening.)

As part of a project at work, I participated in “scientific” personality study.  In other words, I was an executive guinea pig.  The study measures personality, as well as motives, values, and preferences.

What were my scores?  Let’s just say I got high marks in the three P’s – especially in areas of achievement, recognition, and (yikes) even pleasure.  Even more interesting?  I received equally high scores indicating values of altruism and tradition.  The result?  I appear to be completely conflicted -- according to my scores, I’m two people living inside the same body.

While I was mildly amused by the results, I also asked myself, What really motivates me?  If I have to be honest, my motives will never be completely pure this side of heaven.  But I think that’s ok.  The test helped me realize that God created me to have a passion for life – an inner drive – that I can ultimately use for a greater purpose.  And as long as I live in this world, I’m going to be conflicted.  But God still accepts and uses a woman of mixed motives.

What motivates you?  Pleasure?  Possessions?  Power?  Something else?