Are you Extrinsically driven?
Extrinsic: not part of the essential nature of someone or something, coming from outside
Or Intrinsically driven?
Intrinsic: essential, internal
I’m willing to bet that you would describe yourself as a giver?
But I’m also willing to bet you probably don’t identify as a receiver…
Here’s the deal…receiving is the beginning of giving!
NOT receiving is blocking the flow THROUGH you and TO you.
You have to follow before you can lead.
As Jesus said, follow me...
We are to love our neighbors AS we love ourselves.
So we can’t truly love others until we love ourselves first!
I’m not talking about the foofy self-love mumbo jumbo you hear today, and I’m not talking about looking out for your own well-being.
Let me ask you a tough question:
Would you have friends if you talked to them the way you talk to yourself?
If you answered no, or maybe HECK NO, then congrats…
We have some work to do!!!
We must receive love before we can truly give it!!
Remember, the same measure you give with will be given back to you.
Givers are the Gainers.
But giving starts with receiving…
And sadly today, most people don’t think much of themselves...
They secure their identity by who they are externally (extrinsically).
They evaluate their achievement by what they’ve collected versus by the character they have cultivated.
They compare themselves to the orchestrated (and sometimes fake) highlight reels presented by the people they follow, and on social media.
They measure their self-worth by their net worth.
By not taking thoughts captive, 80% of them will be negative in the natural.
If you’ve been to a wedding, you’ve probably heard this verse, but I want to challenge you to read it through the lens of “I must receive FIRST, in order to truly give”.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
I Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJV
Love cures a multitude of wrongs.
So is your motivation Extrinsic or Intrinsic?
It will be extrinsic until you intrinsically know that you are loved!!!
Love flows from our Heavenly Father, and THEN we can give it to the world.
But by NOT receiving first, you are building a dam that is blocking the flow to your life.
We are to live with open hands, because a closed hand is keeping you from what you desire.
So receive God’s love first.
Then get present.
And pray for love.
Love comes down, and then we can love others because we received His love.
We are conduits of this flow.
So I want to challenge you with my 1% Challenge:
Get 1% better at receiving today.
Will accept my challenge and be a conduit of the Father’s light?
Respond below if you will.
Ask for love my friend.
It covers a multitude of wrongs.
Your friend,
Nate