“What Is Your True Motive?”

1 Chronicles 28:9

Motive is defined as something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing; reason; purpose; intent.

The human heart is very deceitful. We can easily fool ourselves about our own motives. We can pretend that we are choosing certain actions for God or the benefit of others, when in reality we have selfish reasons. God is not fooled by our selfishness and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We can operate from a variety of motivations, often negative. Pride, anger, revenge, a sense of entitlement, or the desire for approval can all be catalysts for our actions. Any motivation that originates in our sinful flesh is not pleasing to God. Motivation becomes an issue when we are not honest with ourselves about why we are doing things. When we give the outward appearance of obeying God but our hearts are hard, God knows. We are deceiving ourselves and others, too. The only way we can operate from pure motives is when we walk in the Spirit. God is interested in our motives even more than our actions. In 1 Corinthians 4:5 it says; when Jesus comes again, “he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. God wants us to know that He sees what no one else sees. He knows why we do what we do and desires to reward those whose hearts are right toward Him. We can keep our motives pure by continually surrendering every part of our hearts to the control of the Holy Spirit.

I come by this morning to let you know you can fool man or woman but you can not fool God. Keep on pretending and lying. Can I tell, you’re not lying to the people you’re lying to God. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Let’s take a moment and ask ourselves, what is our true motive? Be bless and I love you!!! JE