Dec 12th - motivation 2

Yesterday 's  Romans 12 gifts survey thingy told me that my motivation is exhortation.   I've done the survey in various forms over a number of years and every time I do it I get the same result.  Exhortation always comes out on top with giving and serving and prophetic  bringing up the rear.  The first time I discovered this it was like a piece of a puzzle finally slotting into place.   I realised that the reason that I do the things that I do is because I have a deep need to encourage and bless and spur people on.  I can see the potential in people and situations.  I love solving problems.  I see the good and am quick to identify peoples gifts and abilities.  I can also quickly spot when someone is struggling.   Knowing that this is the reason - the motivation - behind my character is really helpful.

What is even more helpful is to understand the downsides of being an exhorter.

We exhorters can get upset when people dont receive our encouragements.  We are prone to being easily discouraged ourselves.  One really important thing I have realised about myself is that, in common with other exhorters, I tend to downplay people's sin.  Because I dont like confrontation  I tend to compromise - to err on the side of leniency.   Knowing this helps me to double check myself when Im handing out tea and sympathy and encouraging words.  Sometimes people need a kick up the backside every bit as much as they need an arm round the shoulder.    Being a problem solver I quite often have to take myself to one side and remind myself that actually people are usually able to sort themselves out and they don't need me fixing them all the time.  😊

Your ' motivational gift / gifts' define who you are and they have probably been with you all your life.   A friend of mine messaged me yesterday to say that she had taken the test and it had told her her motivation was teaching.  Guess what?  She is a teacher.    What came first was not the job.  It was the gift that God had placed in her from the moment He was creating her in the womb to be a teacher.  The fact that she ended up teaching for a job was almost co-incidental.  Everything in her life is geared towards imparting learning to others.  She is a housegroup leader, a mother, a grandmother and more.  But in all of these roles her desire is to see people grow in understanding and fulfil every bit of their potential. 

This has nothing to do with being a Christian.  God has given everyone a primary motivation in life - a ' what makes us tick'  .  It is why certain types of people become nurses ( the mercy givers) and others become Policemen and lawyers  ( the prophetic ) or secretaries and office managers ( the administrators)   It is why some people are truly miserable in their jobs - they are doing things which are incompatible with their motivational gifts.    As an exhorter I was always destined to go into something like social work.  Id have been miserable in a job where I was not able to be a problem solving encouragement to people.    From the age of about 4 Josh was sitting his friends in rows and ' teaching ' them in front of a whiteboard he had asked for for Christmas!   If that child doesn't have a teaching motivation I'll eat my hat :)

And what has any of this to do with Advent?
Jesus came to make us who we truly are.  He came to bring life to us in all its fullness and shine a light on the very core of who God has made us to be so that He can display His glory in us.  Jesus knew exactly who He was and what He was here for.   He came so that YOU may know exactly who you are and what YOU are here for.   There is an aspect of God's character and nature in you which makes you more alive than anything else and gives you a sense of purpose and direction nothing else can.  If you can grasp what it is you will be one step closer to being completely whole