The Right Motives
One minute of encouragement for your day.
“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.” Isaiah 50:4
In his book, Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle, Kent Annan writes about figuring out whether his work in Haiti was doing good for others, or if he was just doing more harm.
“…part of what helped me wade through the guilt of hypocrisy was not pretending — to myself and to others — that it’s pure altruism.”
Sometimes we give to others out of compassion, sometimes guilt, sometimes obligation. Sometimes we write and create to glorify God, sometimes for our pleasure, sometimes for money. Often, our actions result from a combination of motives, and even when our motives are pure, it doesn’t automatically mean we’ll make the correct choice. We don’t need to pretend we’re above the complications of being human, but we can consistently pray:
Lord, use our words for Your glory and to bring light to the darkness. May we hear Your voice, instructing us through every day. May whatever You want said, be said through us; whatever You want done, be done through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
