Motivated by Love

I help others. My job, as a writing tutor, is to help my fellow students become better writers. My job as a son and a brother is to help my family. My callings in the church (back before quarantine when we actually attended church) can be imaginatively interpreted as helping others in various ways, either by helping them learn the gospel or by helping them organize the work of keeping the church building clean.

I help others largely out of a sense of obligation. It is my moral obligation to accept and fulfill church callings. It's my familial obligation to serve my family. And it's my vocational obligation to work at the Writing Center. I do these things partly because I have to, or at least because I'm supposed to. Yet, I hope that that isn't my only motivation. I hope that I help others at least partly out of love for those whom I'm obligated to help.

I hope that my actions are at least partially motivated by love. I should help people because I want to help them, not just because it's my job as a family member, church member, or writing tutor. I should help people just for the joy of helping them, and not just to feel the sensation of joy. I should help people because I love them enough to want to help them, whether I get anything out of helping them or not.

I don't know if I'm fully there yet. Yes, I love my family, and the opportunity to help people is the main reason I love my job, but I feel like I could do better to be motivated by love in my church callings and in my day-to-day life. In theory, almost all our actions should be motivated by love, either for God or for His children, or both. Fortunately, I'm sure that some of my actions are motivated by love, but I don't think that all of them are. Something to work on, I guess.

I'm glad to know that some, perhaps many, of my actions are partially, though not entirely, motivated by love. I think that true love is one of the purest and strongest motivations one can have. Love can motivate us to do great things for God and for other people. It's not necessarily wrong to be motivated partly by money or by a sense of duty, but I think it's better to be motivated mostly, if not entirely, by love.