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This post is partially in response to this blog post by Donald Miller: Stop being motivated by guilt.

There are many people these days who disparage the idea of being motivated by duty. They contrast duty to love, and say that we should only be motivated by love. Certainly some people will be motivated to do their duty out of a sense of guilt, shame, pride, or self-righteousness. I would like all people to be motivated by love. But, I would however argue that duty is not opposed to love, rather it is very often the result of real love.

Some people think being motivated by love will result mainly in only doing things which are pleasurable and interesting. I would say love actually results in doing many things which are the last thing you actually feel like doing. This is the whole idea of duty – that is doing the thing you know is the right thing to do, even when you don’t want to do it.
God’s law instructs us how to live in a loving way. In Matthew 22:36-40, an expert in the law asks Jesus:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If we do not obey the law we cannot claim to be motivated by love, because the law tells us how love acts. If we feel guilty when we break the law, we are convicted on account of our lack of love and should feel guilty. Some say we should not be motivated by guilt. But, if we are guilty of not loving, and ignore our sense of guilt because we do not want to be motivated by such a base emotion, we are actually refusing to do the loving act. Furthermore, if the law instructs us how to love, but our desires regularly lead us to break the law, it is safe to assume our desires are often opposed to love. Quite often those things we desire, those things which are exciting and enjoyable, are completely opposed to love.
There are certainly self-righteous people in this world who “do their duty” and are motivated by pride. However, I don’t know if that’s the biggest problem we face in the U.S. today. I fear we have gotten so far away from the ideas of honor and duty, that most people don’t even know to be ashamed of the shamefully complete lack of love they demonstrate not only to their neighbors and God, but to their own friends and family. The first work the law does is to convict us of our failure to love. When we are guilty of selfishness and hate we should feel guilt. When we realize how far we fall short of God’s standard we should feel fear. Only then can we feel truly grateful for the grace God showers upon us. Then when we seek to please God because we love him, his commandments help to guide us.
In 1 John we read:

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (2:3-6)

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (3:10)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (3:16-1

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. (3:23-24a)

And in 1 Peter 1:22:

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

From these verses we learn that to love God and to love others we must do what God has commanded us. To be motivated by love does not mean we just follow our feelings. It does not mean we just do what excites us, or makes us feel good. To be motivated by love means to do those things which you know God wants you to do no matter how it makes you feel, which in the “olden days” was called doing your duty. Jesus serves as an example for us – certainly he was motivated by love. And, though he was God he took upon himself the nature of a slave (Phil 2:7). We, likewise, have been instructed to “live as God’s slaves” (1 Peter 2:16). Which means if we love God, our lives are not our own to do with what we like. We have a responsibility, a duty, to do what God wants us to do.
We each have limited time and resources – we can’t help everyone. How are we to decide who we help? We should be motivated by love. We should pursue those activities which make the most of the talents and resources God has given us. But we are wrong if we think that means we can simply disregard duty and obligation. We have an obligation to God and to our neighbor. Who is my neighbor? It is the person God puts in your path who needs help. Often it is a person you don’t like. When God brings a person in need into our lives and we know based upon God’s commands that the right thing to do is to help them we have no excuse – it is our duty. We cannot claim to be motivated by love if we fail to do what God commands.