Being Motivated By Others

While many sports fans around the country eagerly await the showdown of the four top seeds in the Men's Final Four this weekend, the NCAA Women's Final Four tips off tonight, as Texas, South Carolina, UCLA, and UConn will battle it out for supremacy.

For UConn, inclusion in the Women's Final Four almost feels like a foregone conclusion once the tournament tips off. Amazingly, the Huskies have only failed to advance to the Final Four once since 2008.

With the program's dominance over the past few decades, it would be easy to understand how much pressure could be placed upon the UConn players to live up to the expectations set.

But when asked about the pressure she feels playing for such a storied program, Huskies star Paige Bueckers responded this week by saying, "Once you walk inside the practice facility, you see all the history, all the names, all the banners - it's just motivation… We're just extremely grateful to play here under the best coaching staff in the world and the best program in the world, and we just wear the jersey with pride and want to live up to everything that the alums have done and the coaching staff has done."

I appreciate Bueckers' attitude when speaking of the privilege of playing for UConn's program and how she looks to past players for encouragement and motivation for her present attempts.

As followers of Jesus, we look to Him as the ultimate example of how we want to live our lives. He is our ultimate source of encouragement and motivation as we endeavor to live a life that glorifies God.

But at the same time, we should also be incredibly grateful that many of the people who have come before us in the Christian faith can also serve to inspire, encourage, and motivate us.

In Philippians 3:17 (NASB), the Apostle Paul writes, "Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us."

Although we will never encounter another human being who will be the perfect example of what it looks like to follow Jesus, we certainly will encounter people who demonstrate tremendous faithfulness, passion, and commitment to their faith.

As we examine those people's lives, we should allow their faithful manner of living to inspire us to godliness as well. Rather than potentially giving in to feelings of envy because someone is demonstrating faithfulness as a Christian, we should praise God for the work that He has done in that person's life and for graciously providing that person as an example that we can imitate.

This principle of being motivated by another believer's life is true not only of the people we surround ourselves with today but of the people whose stories are told on the pages of the Bible.

The author of the Book of Hebrews was writing to an audience of persecuted Christians facing tremendous trials and challenges. To motivate his fellow brothers and sisters to endure and persevere in the fight for faith, the author dedicated a sizable portion of his letter to remind his fellow believers of the endurance and faithfulness demonstrated by the past "heroes of the faith.”

After speaking of the faithfulness of people such as Abraham, Noah, Moses, Rahab, and others, the author states in Hebrews 12:1 (ESV), "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

As we read our Bibles, we must remember that the stories aren't there simply for entertainment. Instead, one of the reasons is for us to be encouraged by the positive examples of faithful living.

Let's recognize what a privilege it is to be a part of the body of Christ. Let’s be thankful for the people who have lived lives of faithfulness before us and those who continue to live faithfully today.

May we be encouraged and inspired to follow their examples to the glory of God!

I'm Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to witness examples of godly living. Please help me to imitate those who have lived lives that have been pleasing in Your sight. I ask for strength to hopefully be that example to others as well. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.