Why Your Motive Matters

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Christ, heart, lust, motive, selfish motives, why your motive matters

The heart of God is always to bless His people.  He only wants to see us possess everything that He died for us to have that’s why anything that hinders us from receiving must be dealt with, even if it’s us.

It’s not so much the things on the outside that hinders us from receiving as it is what’s on the inside, namely our motives.  Not having the right motives will cause delays in our receiving from God.  If you’re asking yourself why do motives matter? Let me tell you why.  James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”  This is why motives matters, because without the proper motive you will ask but you won’t receive.   It’s not that God won’t give it to you (because He’s given us all things through Christ) it’s that you’re not able to handle it yet.  God being our Father doesn’t want us to be destroyed by our lust as it was when the children of Israel lusted after meat in the wilderness (Num. 11:32-33).  The meat itself wasn’t bad but their lust for it was.  It wasn’t about nourishment because God was giving them what they needed to be full and satisfied.  It was about them rejecting God’s plan, purpose, and timing.

When we’re operating out of selfish motives we are rejecting God’s plan, purpose and timing for our lives.  God has a plan and purpose for what He’s given us and He knows the time when we’re ready to receive it.  And He will not withhold any good thing from us.  A person operating from a selfish motive has a negative opinion of God.

Selfishness is ugly because it’s sinful.  Listen to what James says in the 1 and 2^nd verses, “From whence comes wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?  Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not” (James 4:1-2).  Now that’s ugly.  Even if what you’re doing is right, if you’re doing it with selfish motives it’s ugly.  As believers the only right motive for us is to know Christ and to make Him known.  Is this your motive for what you say and do?  Are you seeking to know Christ and to make Him known?  Or are you seeking to know and be known?   For example, I enjoy social media.  I have Facebook and Twitter accounts that I use personally and professionally. However, before I post or tweet I ask myself this question, “Is this about me or Him?” Am I making Christ known or am I seeking to be known? It’s a good thing to examine yourself because so much of what we see on social media is self seeking.  So many want to show that they know or they want to be known.  They want their lives to appear better than everyone else.  They want people to look at them with envy and awe.  In other words, they want to be known.  It doesn’t have to be something from the outside that hinders us it could very well be something going on in the inside.  It could be we’re operating out of selfish motives.

When Jesus came to this earth His motive was to make the Father known.  And because we have Christ living in us, we have His motives.  His motive is our motive.  All we need to do is rest in what’s His.  Therefore, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart because you don’t want the things you desire of God to be delayed.

The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

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Christ, glory, gospel, grace, Jesus

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

Jesus came into this world in response to God’s love for man. Man had sinned and the judgment for sin was death. Man needed a savior, a redeemer, someone to save him from death. The same word that God used to create the heavens and the earth took on the formed of flesh, empty himself of his divine privileges, humble himself, took our sins upon himself and became obedient to the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8). God the Father poured all of his wrath and judgment for our sins upon the body of Jesus. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.” He came, he died and three days later he rose again with all power and is seated at the right hand of Majesty on High.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is so plain and simple to understand that even a child can receive. We don’t need to dress it up with fancy words. Paul said in I Corinthians 2:4-5, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” And in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The gospel of Jesus Christ all by itself is the power of God unto salvation.

When Jesus came to this earth he came as a baby and he was born in a manger. When he went into Jerusalem he was riding upon a donkey. His disciples took their garments and laid them upon the donkey. To the Jews he was a stumbling block they weren’t expecting their Messiah, their King to come in such a fashion. Even his disciples seemed to disapprove of his choice of transportation. I mean if you are going to present yourself as King you will need a better ride. Therefore they attempted to dress up the donkey with their garments. To the Greeks it was foolishness for a king to speak of dying for his subjects (I Corinthians 1:22-24).

But there was a reason then as it is now that the King of kings; and Lord of lords; came without any earthly fanfare. And the reason is simple, he needed none. He alone all by himself is the power of God unto salvation. We don’t need to dress him up for men to receive him we simply need to give men Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. Where there is a revelation of Jesus Christ there is power. When men see Jesus Christ, in all of his loveliness, splendor and power their lives are transformed from glory to glory by the power of God. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.