Motives
Jennifer Williams
For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts 1 Thessalonians 2:4
God is interested in our motives even more than our actions. Whilst our actions are seen, it is very difficult to detect our motives as we can operate from a variety of motivations. Often we operate out of desires for approval or pride, revenge, or even a sense of entitlement. We can even fool ourselves about our own motives, and we can certainly deceive others. Since this is so, we should constantly check ourselves and the underlying reason for any action we may take.
The Bible has a lot to say about motives. In our text, Paul was addressing the Thessalonian church on how he and his colleagues approached presenting the gospel to them. He was confident of his underlying reasons that his message was approved by God. Notice, he did not try to please people. His message was not received because he used flattery to win them. He was sure that the message was delivered from a pure heart and was approved by God.
It is never pleasant to think that we could do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Proverbs 16:2 says, "All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord." How apt it is then for us to ask the Lord to make our hearts pure and help us to become conscious of why we do what we do. It is nothing to be ashamed of, He knows that the human heart is very deceitful, and asking Him to search us is necessary. As Paul writes, "our purpose is to please God and not man." The various motivations used by others to win over God's people will come to nothing because He (God) examines the motives of the heart. Paul stressed how honorable he had conducted himself among the Thessalonians. He was confident that his motives for preaching the gospel was pure.
Asking ourselves questions can help to evaluate our motives. I often ask myself if I would still do something even if there was no visible reward or whether I do things for the praise of others. We should not be afraid to acknowledge our unearthed truths. Bringing them to the surface is God's way of purifying us. So as Paul did, let us live for the benefit of others as this is a sure way to developing pure motives.
Personal satisfaction is a wonderful experience when our actions are carried out in honesty. For example, when we enter a competition, we enter to win! Our motivation becomes an issue when we are not honest with ourselves about why we entered in the first place. The only way that we can operate out of a pure motive is when we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). When we give God control of every area of our lives, we would please Him and not ourselves. It is only when we walk in the Spirit that we will not fulfill our fleshly desires.
Scripture reference:
1 Thessalonians 2
