Articles
Check Your Motives
In television crime dramas, it is frequently part of the story line in the unsolved cases [or even some of the solved cases where the perpetrator is convicted] to have the victim’s surviving family and/or friends to continue to mourn over the loss of their loved one, wondering, “Why them?” They want to know the motive for the crime, as if that will somehow help them to make sense of a truly senseless crime. It is no less frustrating and bewildering when bad things happen to us in real life. Many times, we just want to know why — as if everything has a reason and/or an explanation that will help us to come to terms with what happened.
Motive is the ‘why,’ but it is not always obvious or even known; sometimes, it still makes no sense to us when we do know why. When bad things happen or people are just mean or something just doesn’t go the way we planned or hoped, we want to know why, but we cannot look into the hearts of others to know that motive, so we are often left without a reasonable explanation or cause for what has happened. We may not like to admit this, but the reality is, unless someone plainly and honestly tells us their motives, we cannot know.
But God can — and does.
Let us not forget that God “looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7), rather than only the outward appearance, words, or actions. The psalmist reminds us, “He knows the secrets of the heart” (Psa. 44:21), and the apostle Paul even reminds us that it will be in the final Judgment where the Lord “will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5; NASB). You see, the Lord always knows not just what we have done, but also why we did it. And if those motives will be disclosed in the final Judgment, we must acknowledge that they will also be a factor in our judgment, just as Paul went on to note.
So, if even our motives are known to God and they will be a factor in our judgment, shouldn’t we be concerned for our motives right now, and in everything we do? Well, yes! Everything we do here in this earthly life will be brought into the final Judgment [unless, as Christians, we have sought forgiveness], so it matters what we do and why we do it. Even under the Old Law, God cared not just about the outward actions, for He condemned His people for their outward “obedience” that was actually disgusting and repugnant to Him. To these unrighteous ones who would come to Him, bringing their sacrifices, He would say, “Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me…When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:13, 15). They lived ungodly and unrighteous lives and came to God with no true desire to be or do what was right; they were insincere and hypocrites in their hearts, and God would not have it. Have we convinced ourselves today that we can come to God in worship with insincere hearts or with wrong motives and be accepted by Him? If we think we can fool everyone, including God, we need to think again!
And in the New Testament record, we find Jesus soundly condemning the religious leaders for their outward appearance of “obedience” in their worship of God, but who had insincere, hypocritical hearts. To these, Jesus said, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matt. 15:7-9). Outwardly, they seemed to be honoring God, but their motives were anything but sincere, and God was not fooled and not pleased with them.
Again, can we suppose we can come to God to honor Him in worship with ulterior motives or insincere hearts and be pleasing to Him? If we think so, we need to think again! From all we read in Scriptures, it seems God is especially repulsed by those who make it appear outwardly that they are interested in pleasing God while, in their hearts, their motives are insincere or even done with outright evil motives. To this point, the wise writer tells us, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 15:8), and, “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9). He strongly condemns the one who would worship the Lord with wrong motives, writing, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent!” (Prov. 21:27). God is not fooled by our outward appearance of sincerity; He is disgusted!
And it is not just in our worship of the Lord we must have pure motives, either; God is concerned with our daily lives, too. He does not only care about why we come to Him, but also cares about why we do what we do in our daily lives. Again, motive is important. Consider Paul’s words regarding the importance of love: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-3). According to these divinely-inspired words of the apostle Paul, the motive for our actions in life must be love; if it is not, then we are wasting our efforts and fooling only ourselves. Are we acting out of love?
Paul himself is an example of one whose motivation for doing what he did is worth noting. For example, when it came to how he lived his life, he wrote, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you” (1 Cor. 9:21, 22); his motive for doing whatever he did was to save souls! In everything he did, Paul could honestly write, “we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9). Above all, Paul’s motive was to please the Lord in everything. There can be no better motive for the disciple of Jesus Christ than that!
So, it is time to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves, “What’s my motive for all I do?” Only you can answer that for yourself, for no other man knows what is in your heart. But don’t fool yourself, either; while no other man knows your true motives, God most certainly knows. Outward appearances and pleasant words mean nothing if our motives are wrong.
I am sure we have all probably seen or heard of ones who make a great show of outward piety and religious devotion, but whose motives were eventually shown to be anything but godly. Maybe we have even worshiped with some who always seemed to be heartfelt in their worship but who were later revealed to be insincere. For now, let’s not be concerned with them; right now, let’s take a look at self and check our motives. Why do I do what I do in the worship assembly? Why do I do what I do outside these walls and this building amongst those of the world?
If it is not for love of God and/or love for our fellow man, then our motives are wrong. What would God say? — Steven Harper
