God Looks At Your True Motivation
Doing great things for people around you and fighting for good causes are facts that draw respect and admiration from others, but God sees the motivation behind all actions and He is judging facts based on the real motifs behind close doors. There is only one motivation that is satisfying for Him, see which one here!
It is indeed impressive to look at some things people do for example in charity, where the raised funds may be very substantial and you may be awed at someone's contribution for all the good reasons! Who wouldn't be? Pondering about it you might think to yourself something similar:" This so and so, must be a really generous/good person to have made this huge donation!"
It might be so, at least on the outside it looks like that in your eyes, yet, the real motivations of the heart can be very different, contrary to what anybody can see! There is that "heart of hearts" where only God can really weight the sincerity of our motivations and from God's point of view the motivation is more important and prevails the fact itself.
Do you remember Jesus speaking about the widow who had brought her very small gift to the Temple? Jesus Christ had the authority and insight to judge and He affirmed that she, with her little money, had actually brought more than all the other rich people who gave a lot! She gave all she had for living, but the rich gave from their abundance.She gave more because she gave with love, doing a sacrifice out of the right motivation: her love for God. Any other reason is not good enough as the following quotation points out: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1Chorintians 13:1-3
Doing the most painful things will not be enough? To sell all you've got and give for the children in Africa, to be burnt alive for your good cause, to do things that will impress others and still, gaining nothing? Not at least a little something? The answer is unfortunately negative. Consequently, it is obvious that the right motivation can only be love, yet nowadays love has become the expression of what the Bible calls sin: for example homosexuality, lesbianism or sexual relationships outside marriage. That's why, we need to accurately distinguish what real love represents. There cannot be love without truth and The Truth is God Himself, the Bible, His Word. This is the reason why any added boundary will not present an authentic definition of love, that's why we are required to keep God's perspective of love in mind when we talk about it - since He is the initiator and the source of love itself.
To see what love is, take a look at the illustrious, beautiful and comprehensive definition of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Now as a test exercise, look back at this definition and put your name everywhere where you find the word "love". Something like this: Catherine is patient, Catherine is kind. Catherine does not envy, Catherine does not boast, Catherine is not proud. Catherine is not rude, Catherine is not self-seeking, Catherine is not easily angered, Catherine keeps no record of wrongs. Catherine does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Catherine always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...
What a standard! Impossible for a human being! Yes indeed, unattainable in our own strength, but when God performs the work from the inside to the outside, it is then when you can actually live with such a standard as an ingredient of your daily "routine". Just like a good tree produces good fruit, a renewed way of thinking will generate words and actions based and motivated on love for God.
The love for God is in strict connection to the love for people. For instance, if you declare that you love God but you hate your brother, you are false and you are not in the truth. This is what Apostle John (the apostle of love), teaches affirming that who honestly loves God will furthermore love his brother because if these two concepts - the love for God and the love for people - do not go together, the person in question has not known God in reality, because God is love.
To conclude with, God sees your motivations behind your gestures, actions and thoughts, therefore He is judging based on your real reasons and not on what you let other think about what you are showing on the outside. Love for God (and people) represents the right motivation; may we all be moved by that in all the good causes we encounter!
It might be so, at least on the outside it looks like that in your eyes, yet, the real motivations of the heart can be very different, contrary to what anybody can see! There is that "heart of hearts" where only God can really weight the sincerity of our motivations and from God's point of view the motivation is more important and prevails the fact itself.
Do you remember Jesus speaking about the widow who had brought her very small gift to the Temple? Jesus Christ had the authority and insight to judge and He affirmed that she, with her little money, had actually brought more than all the other rich people who gave a lot! She gave all she had for living, but the rich gave from their abundance.She gave more because she gave with love, doing a sacrifice out of the right motivation: her love for God. Any other reason is not good enough as the following quotation points out: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1Chorintians 13:1-3
Doing the most painful things will not be enough? To sell all you've got and give for the children in Africa, to be burnt alive for your good cause, to do things that will impress others and still, gaining nothing? Not at least a little something? The answer is unfortunately negative. Consequently, it is obvious that the right motivation can only be love, yet nowadays love has become the expression of what the Bible calls sin: for example homosexuality, lesbianism or sexual relationships outside marriage. That's why, we need to accurately distinguish what real love represents. There cannot be love without truth and The Truth is God Himself, the Bible, His Word. This is the reason why any added boundary will not present an authentic definition of love, that's why we are required to keep God's perspective of love in mind when we talk about it - since He is the initiator and the source of love itself.
To see what love is, take a look at the illustrious, beautiful and comprehensive definition of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Now as a test exercise, look back at this definition and put your name everywhere where you find the word "love". Something like this: Catherine is patient, Catherine is kind. Catherine does not envy, Catherine does not boast, Catherine is not proud. Catherine is not rude, Catherine is not self-seeking, Catherine is not easily angered, Catherine keeps no record of wrongs. Catherine does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Catherine always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...
What a standard! Impossible for a human being! Yes indeed, unattainable in our own strength, but when God performs the work from the inside to the outside, it is then when you can actually live with such a standard as an ingredient of your daily "routine". Just like a good tree produces good fruit, a renewed way of thinking will generate words and actions based and motivated on love for God.
The love for God is in strict connection to the love for people. For instance, if you declare that you love God but you hate your brother, you are false and you are not in the truth. This is what Apostle John (the apostle of love), teaches affirming that who honestly loves God will furthermore love his brother because if these two concepts - the love for God and the love for people - do not go together, the person in question has not known God in reality, because God is love.
To conclude with, God sees your motivations behind your gestures, actions and thoughts, therefore He is judging based on your real reasons and not on what you let other think about what you are showing on the outside. Love for God (and people) represents the right motivation; may we all be moved by that in all the good causes we encounter!
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