The intrepid newspaper reporter, Henry Stanley, and his flamboyant entourage marched into Ujiji, a rustic African village in modern-day Tanzania. Had he finally found his man? In the autumn of 1871, the western world awaited Stanley’s report. Other search parties had failed to locate the long-lost explorer, but now an African man pointed Stanley to a small hut. A grizzled old Scot stepped out as the American reporter strode forward: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” What was this old guy doing in the middle of uncharted Africa? What motivation compelled him to leave his home and family on extended treks through hippo-infested waters, lion hunting grounds, tribal wars, slaver attacks, malarial swamps, and swarms of disease-carrying tsetse flies?

A Case Study on Motivation: David Livingstone

As I read the biography of David Livingstone last week, I found myself asking what fueled Livingstone’s passion for his work.[1] I pondered excerpts from the missionary explorer’s letters, journals, and speeches. Was Livingstone motivated by fame? If he was, I expect he would have stayed in Great Britain during his later years to enjoy it.[2] Was he motivated by adrenaline? Only if he got a thrill from extended fevers, countless setbacks, and endless travel delays. Was he motivated to be the hero that ended the African slave trade? Possibly. He witnessed villages abandoned and the corpses of men, women, and children strewn across the savannas and floating in the rivers.[3] Both the physical and spiritual plight of these African peoples tugged at his heart strings.

The Love of Christ: Motivation for Preaching the Gospel

Yet, something deeper underlay these factors. Livingstone explained: “The perfect freeness with which the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God’s book drew forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us with his blood, and a sense of deep obligation to Him for his mercy has influenced, in some small measure, my conduct ever since. . . . the love of Christ has since impelled me.”[4] The love of Christ in dying for him moved Livingstone to take the gospel to Africa.

The Love of Christ: Motivation for Freeing the Slaves

The same motivation that compelled Livingstone to preach to the Africans also moved him to labor for their liberation. After his initial years serving near his father-in-law Robert Moffat in South Africa, Livingstone realized that one of the greatest impediments to the gospel was the slave trade. Livingstone transitioned from laboring in mission stations to exploring the interior southern Africa.[5] His goal was to pave the way for more missionaries to come and to provide alternative commerce that would replace the barbaric slave trade.[6] He argued, “Can the love of Christ not carry the missionary where the slave trade carries the trader?”[7]

Bible Truths about Motivation

Livingstone echoed the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” What compels us? Fame? Fortune? Adventure? The desperation of the poor and neglected? No, our motivation should be love.

What love? First, Jesus’ love for us. “One died for all.” That is love. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Then, “we love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Because of our love for Jesus, we no longer live unto ourselves for selfishness is the opposite of love. Because of His love, we respond in love and live “unto him which died for them and rose again.”

Love is the most genuine of motivations. Jesus loves us. We love Him in return. His love changes us, compelling us to an active love for one another. Selfishness taints the motivations of fame, fortune, adventure, and even pity.[8] Love must be why we serve God and others.

Contemplating Our Own Motivation

Motivations can be complex. Livingstone wrote to the directors of his mission board: “[I] sometimes suspect my own motives. I am conscious that, though there is much impurity in my motives, they are in the main for the glory of Him to whom I have dedicated my all.”[9] If we are honest with ourselves, we too may wonder about our motivations. Can I truly serve out of love? Are my motives pure? Why do I volunteer in my local church? Why do I give and help others?

May we with Livingstone pray, “Purify my motives, sanctify all my desires. Guide my feet and direct my steps so that the Great and Glorious Jesus may be glorified.”[10] “The Lord has been exceedingly kind to me. He has shielded me in many such dangers. May my heart be stirred up to love Him more ardently, and may His name be blessed for ever and ever.”[11]

[1] Read more about David Livingstone in my missions devotional, Daring Devotion: A 31-Day Journey with those who Lived God’s Promises, published by Church Works Media. The biography I was reading was Rob MacKenzie’s David Livingstone: The Truth Behind the Legend.

[2] “If the good Lord permits me to put a stop to the enormous evils of the inland slave-trade, I shall not grudge my hunger and toils. I shall bless His name with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to me only as a means of enabling me to open my mouth with power among men. It is this power I hope to apply to remedy an enormous evil, and join my poor little helping hand in the enormous revolution that in His all-embracing Providence He has been carrying on for ages, and is now actually helping forward. Men may think I covet fame, but I make it a rule never to read aught written in my praise.” Mackensie, 339.

[3] “They consider the sources of the Nile to be a sham; the true object of my being sent is to see their odious system of slaving, and if indeed my disclosures should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave-trade, I would esteem that as a far greater feat than the discovery of all the sources together. It is awful, but I cannot speak of the slaving for fear of appearing guilty of exaggerating. It is not trading; it is murdering for captives to be made into slaves.”  Mackensie, 334.

[4] David Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, 19.

[5] “Whatever way my life may be spent so as but to promote the glory of our gracious God, I feel anxious to do it … My life may be spent as profitably as a pioneer as in any other way.” William Garden Blaikie, The Personal Life of David Livingstone Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His Family (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1881), 41–42.

[6] “Our work and its fruits are cumulative. We work towards another state of things. Future missionaries will be rewarded by conversions for every sermon. We are their pioneers and helpers. Let them not forget the watchmen of the night, we who worked when all was gloom and no evidence of success in the way of conversion cheered our path.” Mackensie, 123.

[7] Ibid., 154.

[8] How can pity be selfish? Having a “savior” complex which strokes our ego as we “condescend” to help those less fortunate than we are.  

[9] Mackensie, 76.

[10] Ibid., 119.

[11] Ibid., 67.

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