Do we have the right motivation?
2 Chronicles 16:9
* For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.*
Even though we are to seek God this scripture tells us that when our hearts are right He will also seek us. Matthew 5:48 says * Be perfect , therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.* In this I believe He is not talking about being perfect in actions but, in attitudes. We as humans are going to mess up now and then but, God looks at the motivations of our heart.
Look at Abraham, there were several times mentioned that he really messed up but, God saw the motivations of his heart and made him father to the nation that He loved so dearly. Take a look at David, and Peter and how about Paul. David was an adulterer and took part in a murder, But, it was David who He said was a man after His own heart and chose David's lineage to be the lineage of Jesus. And Peter though he denied Jesus 3 times, God chose him to preach the first sermon on Pentecost day and brought over 3000 souls to Christ. And Paul who persecuted, imprisoned , and took part in the deaths of many christians but, God chose to use him to lead the gentiles into a relationship with Christ. It wasn't because of their actions or who they were , it was because God saw their heart.
God wants a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 says * God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.* So what part of our heart does God want ? God wants our spiritual heart. Our spiritual heart is : our complete inner nature, the part of us that controls our beliefs and our behavior. These are 9 things that make up the spiritual heart. 1) Conscience 2) Courage 3)Desire and affections 4) Emotions 5) Inner man 6) Place of faith 7) Standing with God 8) Thoughts 9) Will . It is a place that only God can fill. We may make a mistake now and then but, if our hearts are right, we will be pleasing to God.
God wants our motives to be right. Test your motives and make sure everything that you do for God that you do because you love Him not for the recognition from others. The bible says that if we don't test our heart that God will. Psalm81:12, Proverbs 17:3, 1 Samuel 16:7
In Proverbs 6:16-19 it tells of 6 things that God hates and if you read them you'll notice they all are sins of the heart. We need a heart transplant. To gain the right motivation of heart we need to ask Jesus into our hearts; if our heart is indwelt by His heart then we will have found the true heart of God.
God wants an honest heart. God wants our thought life to be pure. Psalm 19:14 says * May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight.*
God's word in our head won't do us a lot of good, but, God's word in our hearts will be our protection. God is more motivated by what we are than what we do.
Hebrews 4:12 says that * For the word of God is living and active, sharper than a double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.* How do we know the motivations of our heart? Judge it from the word of God. That is the only standard to hold it up to.
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