Terminus

Excerpt from "The Missing Motive" by Eric J. Alexander, TableTalk February 2010

Now in recent years I have been troubled by the tendency in the evangelical church to be more taken up with methods rather than motives.  So I frequently hear of conferences where brethren meet to share insights into new and better methods by which we may fulfill our ministry.  I'm sure they are very valuable and I hope I am not so naive as to think that methods are unimportant in God's work.  But I have almost never heard of a conference where brethren have met together before God to ask each other:  "In all honesty, what are the compelling motives that determine the direction of my ministry?"

Yet Jesus laid great stress on motives:  "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 5:30).  Looking back over His ministry He says, "I have glorified you by finishing the work you gave me to  do" (John 17:4).  The glory of the  Father was the terminus of everything for Jesus.  There was nothing beyond this.  And he means it to be so for us.