Archived Verse Of the Week

What is your Motive?

 

The Lord's sermon on the mount focused heavily on righteous behaviour. "By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified," the Lord didn't claim we would become children of God by demonstrating righteous behaviour. Instead, He was teaching that godly behaviour and acts would indicate that we were His children. Godly behaviour and attitudes should show that we are already His children. Because we are God's children, all believers should exhibit spiritual fruit through gracious words and acts.

 

The way to spiritual growth is to practice righteousness and godly living as Christ instructed. Nevertheless, He issues a strong caution regarding the motivation for godly actions and the aim behind the conduct of righteous deeds: Beware of exercising your righteousness in front of men in order to be noticed by them, Christ warns His disciples. Jesus is warning them not to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

 

God examines our hearts and the hidden motives behind our actions. So, we are warned that if the motivation behind what we say and do is to be seen and applauded by others rather than for the honour and glory of God, it is done from the wrong motivation. 

 

God is the one who looks into people's hearts. He is the only one who can pinpoint the precise moment when the unbelieving person's heart begins to place its faith in Christ for salvation. Still, He also knows the heart of a believer. His rewards for Christians are solely based on the motivation behind our deeds.

 

The believer will be rewarded if the deeds He has prepared for us to undertake are carried out in spirit and truth with the sole intention of honouring God. However, if they are works that appear virtuous and good but are carried out in the flesh, God will not honour them. We must consider the motivation behind everything we say and do so that we do not succumb to the temptation of performing hypocritical actions in our fleshly power to impress God or others with our piety to receive their generous applause because God sees the hidden motivation behind all of our actions and attitudes and knows whether if they're done for the praise and glory of our heavenly Father or our own self-glorification.

 

Matthew 6:1 - 3 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,"

 

Who's reward are you working for? God or man? Whose benefit are you working for? Two different masters equal two different types of motives for our works and two different types of rewards. Doing something with the wrong motivation is the same as not doing anything at all. 

 

When you donate to the poor and needy, do it out of kindness, keep quiet and give in secret. Don't be a hypocrite by publicly announcing what you give to be seen, recognized and heard by men, for if you do, you will have received your full reward. God our Father, who sees and knows everything, will reward you. 

 

So, for whom are you putting on a show? This is a question that we must all answer. Who are we working for that will eventually reward us? Is it God or man? Praise God for allowing you the opportunity to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

As Christians, we live, or should I rather should live, according to the principles provided in God's Word. We should serve the Lord, not men, as followers of the one true and living God. Of course, in our everyday work for our employer, we work as stewards of the Lord, not as stewards of man. God will reward us," Jesus promises if we do what is right in His eyes and with the correct intention.

 

Here are the choices we have today. We either receive man's applause or God's blessings. Which do you prefer today? In labouring for the Lord, know your labour is not in vain. Your reward is great in heaven!

 

Don't strive to impress others with your spiritual life. It's easy to do the right thing for the wrong reason. We can do the right thing (service and honour God) for the wrong reasons (to improve our status). Our connection with him must be motivated by a desire to glorify God rather than impress others.  

 

It's all about the motive. Allow your intentions to remain hidden, don't boast about them. The focus is not on you! God is the point of all that we do. Let him get all the glory. You have a choice: you can either seek God's approval or the approval of others. It's a binary choice. Jesus says that you have to choose one or

the other. Pursue God for God, not to impress others.

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