Recently a person asked me
a few simple questions: Why do you
pray? Why do you attend church services on Sundays? Why do you give 10%
of your income to God’s work? Why do you read the Bible? WHY questions and
others like these get to the root of our rationale and reveal the motivations
behind our actions.
There are
a plethora of motivations and it’s not always easy to pin-point the driving
force behind any given act. It’s simple to ask the question but more difficult
to discover the accurate answer.
We do
things out of guilt, pleasure, fear, need or a sense of responsibility, to
mention a few. For many in our
culture, money is a powerful motivation, which causes them to do things they
wouldn’t do if there were no monetary incentives. Some motivations are wrong
and others are right but all of them are significant.
When
Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matt chapters 5-7,
He talked about the motivations behind giving, praying and other religious
activity. The major nerve Jesus is touching, the general theme, the overall
intent of this passage is to focus on the motivations that drive people to do
what they do. The religious leaders of that day were doing the right things for
the wrong reasons and that matters to God!
Jesus
starts by saying this: Matt. 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of
righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no
reward from your Father in heaven.” He addresses one of the core motivating
forces behind much of what we do. Applause and approval from people! We too
often want to impress people rather than please God.
I have
received applause from people at times but I never want to seek their applause.
People see my good deeds occasionally but I never want to do good deeds to be
seen by them. I pray in public settings on occasion when invited to do an
invocation but I always want to pray ‘to’ God rather than ‘for’ people. If not,
I am among those Jesus addresses in this great sermon.
Since
that encounter with the person who asked those questions, I’ve noticed some
wrong motives in me. One of them surfaced a few weeks ago when I went to a
local coffee shop and noticed a ‘tip’ jar located next to the cash register. I
started to leave a tip but consciously chose to wait until the Barista was
looking. I didn’t want to leave something unless she saw what I was doing. I
mean; if she doesn’t see me giving her a tip, how will she know I’m a nice
guy? How sick is that? Lol!
The
desire to impress people is difficult to see but it resides in all of us. It
starts early in life when we become conscious of what others think about how we
dress or how we talk. Even my 6-year-old grandson tells me he doesn’t want to
wear certain clothes because others will think he doesn’t look cool. He wants
to impress people!
Motives
are extremely important to God. From His view, your acts will never rise above
the motives that inspire them. Even our court system judges differently when
the act is pre-meditated or if it were an accident.
Why do
you do whatever you do? Finding the answers to the ‘why questions’ of
life will help you greatly. Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart,
for it affects everything you do.”