Mark 12:30-31 (NIV) “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Love is your motivator; it becomes your reason for why you do what you do. Jesus was putting love at the top of the list of God’s commandments. Once you give it full control over your motives, you have a heart that is inspired to only do good things to you, other people, and God's plan. That is the definition of righteousness.

Mat 15:8 (NIV) These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Love cures this problem and puts you in a place where you don’t want anything in your life that is fake, pretentious, or hypocritical. A motivation of resistance like that is very powerful. The wonderful thing about God is, He NEVER requires you to do ANYTHING that He doesn’t provide you the resources and power to do. And, that is the case with love: Rom 5:5 (NIV) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us.

What would cause you to not want to resist something the Holy Spirit is speaking to your conscience to resist? One of the major causes of people refusing to resist sin is extreme pleasure. They get so addicted and dependent on it that they find themselves refusing to resist it. Your love for God, your love for those you are hurting, and your awareness of the damage you are doing to yourself can motivate you to resist.

1 John 4:4 (NIV) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Once love helps you want to resist, the Holy Spirit is there to empower you to not only resist, but to resist successfully. If you find yourself being tempted to get involved with a sinful relationship, or struggling with a damaging emotional situation, or mishandling your finances, or neglecting your spiritual growth, the power to prevent it from happening is important.

When you are faced with a dilemma where if you don’t do something wrong, bad, or evil, you might lose your job, a close friend, not get a special deal, or fail to reach a goal, when the stakes are high, the power to resist is vital to your future. Your final decision will set the stage for a good future or a bad one. Plus, if you do decide to sin, the end results will not be as beneficial as you anticipate. And, it could put your relationship with God at risk. The power to resist prevents you from having to suffer the consequences of a bad decision.

People who don’t prepare for resisting bad things coming into their lives often face failure. Jesus said in Matthew 26:41 (NIV): “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Those who think they are tough enough to handle any temptation are setting themselves up for pain, disappointment, and failure. Jesus wants to take you to a study and prayer time of going through two men’s spiritual journey. One loved Jesus and the other loved money.