Sometimes we can be in an atmosphere of praise and worship, but still not experience the tangible presence of God. Often, we come before Him, but we’re not seeking Him in a way that He can be found. We come with our own agendas. We want God to do something for us, to satisfy a need we might have, but we’re not really interested in drawing close to Him. We want our needs met. So even though we look the part, and we sound as if we really love God, deep down, some of us don’t have the right motivation. Proverbs 21:2(NLT) tells us, “People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.” God looks at our hearts to examine if our motives are in line with His Word. If they aren’t, we must push the pause button on praying for the thing we think we need so much. Our focus needs to shift, and we ought to ask God to do a work in our hearts so that His love becomes our primary motivation.
In the Gospels, we will find many records of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes opposing Jesus Christ, and trying to dispute with him. Some of them belonged to the upper echelon of Jewish leaders and were very revered by others in the Jewish community. They saw Christ and his teaching as a threat to their power structure. These Jewish leaders tried to publicly humiliate and trick Jesus Christ, and they often posed questions to him about their laws in order to get this done. They thought they’d be able to entangle him, that he would not be able to hold his own when coming against what they perceived as their vast intellectual prowess. He stumped them time and time again. He left them speechless and dumfounded by his wisdom.
There were two ways that the enemies of Jesus Christ could seek to do him harm, either by legalities or by force. If they could trip him up by accusing him of violating the law or teaching against it, then in their minds he would lose the trust of the people. If Jesus violated the law in some way, the Pharisees and Sadducees could say that he was not who we know him to be. Matthew 22 tells us about an occasion where the Sadducees were up to their tricks yet again. In verse 16, they were laying it on thick, trying to smooth talk him with niceties and butter him for the one-two punch.
Matthew 22:16-22(NLT) “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites.”17 Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? 19 Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, 20 he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
Of course, Jesus Christ shut’em down, because that’s what the truth does, but when the Pharisees heard about this, they sought to bring their crooked “A” game as well. Matthew 22:34 says the Pharisees plotted together to trap him with a question about the Law of Moses. One of them asked in Matthew 22:36(NLT), “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” On the surface, this seemed like a really good question. Someone with a heart for God and truly wants to know and please Him might have very well asked this question, but that was not the motivation of the Pharisees. It was the right question, but the wrong motivation. Matthew 22:37-40(NLT) tells us, “37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Motivation is so key in our lives, because it is what our Heavenly Father judges. In 1Corinthians 4:5(NLT), the Apostle Paul tells us, “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.” God knows everything there is to know about us. He sees what we do in the dark. He knows our secret motives, and we will be judged on why we do the things we do.
The question you and I must ask is are we doing things for ourselves and to promote our own agendas, or are we doing them because we are motivated by God’s love. Our Heavenly Father showed us from the very beginning what His motive was. He created us and everything that we see, and He has done this because of His great love for us all. Because of our sin, He could have wiped us out long ago, but He didn’t do this. Instead of completely starting over after Adam’s and Eve’s mistake, He sent us a Savior, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. God gave His Son to the world to save it, so that we could be reconciled to Him.
Ephesians 5:1-2(NLT) tells us, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” We don’t belong to ourselves. We belong to God. Just as a child adores a loving biological father, even more so, we ought to be full of adoration and totally in love with our Heavenly Father. We are to live every day as if we know that we belong to God and He belongs to us. He has shown us by His example what our motivation should be every second of every day. It’s His love. If we will see the beauty and honor of being guided by God every moment of our lives, He will light up our hearts and help us to change our motivation so that everything we do is touched by His love. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Love’s Motivation”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life© 2019. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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