Purify Your Motives

Motive is always important to God. Motive tells who you really are deep down. It shows your values and principles, as well as the ideals that govern your life. With God, what you do is sometimes not nearly as important as the reason for doing it.

Some deeds are outwardly noble, yet they are sponsored by the vilest motivation. When you look at Judas advocating for the poor by suggesting that the expensive perfume used on Jesus should have been sold and the proceeds given to the needy, you would think of him as a compassionate and caring person. But that thought would disappear immediately you learned that he was a thief and was only concerned about how to steal from the purse (John 12:5-6).

In the wilderness, God was angry with the children of Israel when they asked for meat and punished them. He was not angry because they asked something of Him or because they prayed, for God commanded us to ask (Jeremiah 33:3). Indeed, Jesus actually taught us to pray, and in that prayer, He taught that we should ask God to give us each day our daily bread (Matthew 6:10).

The problem, therefore, was not that they asked God for meat. After all, God gave meat to Elijah using the ravens (1 Kings 17:15). The real problem God had with them had to do with the reason for their request. The Bible says they asked for meat to satisfy their lust. Wrong motives will always put up into problem with God.

Beloved, it is time to purify your motives by using God’s word to filter them. May God help us in Jesus name.