"All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD." Prov 16:2
There is an amharic saying that goes something like...yetim fCHiw DuQetun amCHiw...loosely translated as grind it wherever as long as you bring the flour. It is a figurative saying to mean no matter how you do it, where you do it, what means you use etc...as long as you produce results that is what matters.
The above verse tells us otherwise. Motive matters before God. In fact that is what God sees. Not what you are doing but what drives you to do what you are doing. That is why the Bible says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives." James 4:3. The prayer is right but the motive is wrong. To put it in another way doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons.
In the book of Philippians we also learn about preachers who preach for utterly the wrong reasons. It says, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains" Phil 1:15-16.
Jesus also warned us about giving for the wrong reasons. He said, "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing"
It is good to preach, to pray, to give etc....but at the end of the day, on judgment day we are judged not just for what we did but more for why we did it. God sees beyond the surface. God sees beyond our masks. He sees the heart. He sees our motives.
"All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD." Prov 16:2
Blessings,
The Cyber Evangelist |