A few weeks ago we were in Lititz, Pennsylvania which was founded by the Moravians in 1756 and is the home of Moravian Archives Museum.  As I looked at the impressive church buildings I couldn’t help but think of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf, one of the great leaders of the Moravian church.  Zinzendorf came from an aristocratic family but he gave his wealth away for cause of Christ.

What motivated him to leave a life of power and prestige and give away his fortune?  It’s reported that he was in an art gallery in Düsseldorf gazing at a variation of Domenico Feti’s Ecce homo (Behold the man), a portrait of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.  Underneath the painting was this inscription:

All this I did for thee; what doest thou for me?

Zinzendorf was so gripped by this statement that he devoted the rest of his life to serve God.  His experience is reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s declaration,

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

The word Paul uses for “controls” is a compound word that literally means to hold together.  It conveys the idea of holding completely or to be gripped by something.  Now the essential point for both Paul and Zinzendorf is that they were motivated to give their lives to serve God not to gain God’s favor but because of God’s favor! 

Anytime we try to prove our love to God to earn His favor we fall into a performance based acceptance mentality.  We think “If I can just be good enough then God will accept me.”  The reality is we can never be good enough – it is only as we accept Christ’s righteousness that we can have peace with God.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)

When I am gripped by the love of God I want to serve Him out of gratitude for all that He has done for me.  What is your motivation for serving God – is it to gain His acceptance or are you “gripped” by His love and your motivation is to serve Him out of gratitude?  That brings us to the question that Zinzendorf faced – “What will you do for Him?”