“Our purpose is to please God, not people. He examines the motives of our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4
I have enjoyed so much this week’s S.S.A.L.S. God has taken me to a deeper level of intimacy within through understanding the importance of pleasing Him.
So with that I want to close the first part of our passage up with some profound words spoken by Paul that I have fell IN love with.
“Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians 1:10
Paul could not have said it any better! Don't you just love his boldness?
Now for the last part of our verse, “He examines the motives of our hearts.” The word motive is a factor or circumstance that induces a person to act in a particular way.
What is our motive for worshipping God? What is our motive for acting in the manner in which we do, whether anger, jealousy, spite, love, compassion, etc? God alone knows the underlying motives of our hearts. He examines them daily and He cannot be fooled. “People may think they are doing what is right, but the Lord examines the heart.” Proverbs 21:2
It is so neat to me how these two verses go so well together. If our motives are for the attention and praise of man, than are we not going to be people pleasers instead of God pleaser's?
What about when we lash out at others or speak words of hate, is it not because our underlying motive is to hurt someone because we are hurting, and instead of allowing God to deal with that hurt, we retaliate onto others so we can feel better about ourselves? Sick isn’t it? But how often we do it.
It is a vicious cycle especially when our motives are intentional. God sees our hearts brethren, He sees and knows why we do all that we do. He knows how we will handle every situation and every conviction; we will both accept and confess it, or we will reject it.
“Don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God knows all hearts, and he sees you. He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows you knew! And he will judge all people according to what they have done.” Proverbs 24:12
Even we know our motives behind the things we do. So what are yours? The next time you do something ask yourself this, does this motive align itself with the word of God, the will of God and the love of God?
And we must always remember, “He examines the motives of our hearts.”
Prayer: Lord I pray the same prayer David prayed; examine me, O Lord and test me! Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives! Amen
