Why do people fall in love?  What’s their motivation?  I mean, why does anybody go through all the trouble of pursuing and building a love relationship.  I’m not talking about lust and sex.  I’m talking about people who fall head over heels and are willing to put on their best and spend their money and make extra time for dating and gifts and trips –and all the emotional stress and upheaval that comes with the risk of putting your heart on the line hoping for somebody else to respond with the same feelings.  Why do people do that?

The answer is pretty obvious–even if it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense when you think about how much time and attention a good relationship takes.  People give their love because it’s rewarding to share real love with another person.  When husbands and wives love each other or parents love their children et cetera, it often requires a lot of sacrifice, but anybody with a good relationship will tell you that it’s more than worth it.

Living for God is the same thing.  Serving God often requires sacrifice and takes work and dedication and commitment.  But anybody who has a good relationship with Jesus Christ will tell you that it’s more than worth it.  The joy and contentment and deep love that fills your life as a result of belonging to God makes living life God’s way a desire rather than just a regulation.

Do you know what I mean?  If so, congrats!  If not, would you like to?

(This podcast is a retelling of the same idea from the December 27th podcast.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:05 — 23.8MB)

What drives you?  What’s your main motivation in life?  Do you enjoy being alive?  Or are you bored or depressed or unfulfilled?  What trips your trigger?

What about you Christians…why do you live a life of love and purity?  Why do you live a holy life and always make righteous choices? (By the way, if you’re not living that way, it proves you don’t belong to Jesus?  If you are a true Christian your life will produce the fruit of the Spirit and you will rid your life of sin.  You can’t love God and commit evil against him at the same time.)  Anyway, why do you live for God?  Because you love to or because you have to?

How do you think God wants you to be motivated?  Fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom.  But love casts out fear.  So if you are motivated by love–if you enjoy living for God–then you have no need to be afraid because your love will drive you to live a life that pleases God rather than incites his wrath.

So, which do you prefer?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:16 — 20.7MB)

Did you ever wish you had super powers?  Did you ever imagine what it would be like to fly or bend steel with your bare hands or shoot lasers from your eyes?  If you could pick any one power, what would it be?  I think superheroes are cool.  I like Superman, the Incredible Hulk, the X-men, and just about all the rest.  And it’s been great to see technology get to the point where artists can make the amazing things they do on the movie screen look so real.  Big action movies like those where the good guys fight to save the world against evil are the best things to see at the theater!

So what if you could really be a superhero?  What would you do with your powers?  Would you use them for good or for evil—to save others or to serve yourself?  What if you really could have super powers?  What if you really did have a special ability written into your DNA or your spiritual make up?  What if you were meant to be the hero fighting to save the world from evil?

Well, maybe—just maybe, you are.  Listen to this and think about that idea:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:38 — 13.6MB)