Motives

 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Proverbs 16:2

My pastor recently uttered a phrase in passing that has stuck with me ever since I heard it. He said, “In order to truly repent, we must accept that all of our motives are alloyed.” To be candid, though I had an idea of what an alloyed metal was, it took me a minute to understand how I might have an alloyed motive. 

Here, the internet was helpful, noting that alloyed can mean “to debase something by adding something inferior to it.” So, my homemade cookies can be alloyed when I mix in expired chocolate chips. My car’s gasoline tank can be alloyed if I add a splash of orange juice in addition to the unleaded fuel for which it calls. And, my motives are alloyed when the purity of my intention is mixed with a whole host of “inferior” responses: envy, jealousy, anger, and contempt. 

There’s great spiritual wisdom in being suspicious, by default, of our motives. This doesn’t mean our motives are entirely corrupt or misguided. To be sure, we are often motivated by love and compassion to meet the needs of others. Generosity moves us to give our time and money to a worthy cause. Self-giving sacrifice is a real and beautiful thing that should be celebrated and cultivated in our daily lives. The point I’m making is that rarely, if ever, are these motives entirely pure. They are mixed, alloyed, and wisdom invites us to grow in our awareness of the variety of motives, both pure and impure, that exist within our hearts.  

All of life is a journey of repentance, seeking to open our hearts more and more to the transforming life of Christ, and at the same time learning to see ourselves as we truly are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is never a cause for despair, because we are not destined to stay as we are. Change and growth is always an invitation that the Lord extends to us, so when we notice impure motives that creep into our thoughts and actions, let us see them for what they are, and lift them to the Lord so that they may be transformed by his healing touch.

Take some rest

For we which have believed do enter into rest. Hebrews 4:3

Many people are tired. Tired of conflict. Tired of work. Tired of religion. Tired of politics. Exhaustion and fatigue seem to be epidemic in a modern culture that has more than enough amenities to provide rest: comfortable homes, outdoor experiences and loving relationships. Sadly, many people are time impoverished, without margin, unable to invest time to rest. They are unable to give themselves permission to rest for fear of, missing out, not being approved of, or driven to gain something: money, status, acceptance. If you are tired, Jesus invites you to rest.

The writer of Hebrews is very clear: when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ you entered into rest. A rest that can become elusive and rare without continuing to trust in and follow Jesus. Success addicts sometimes quip, “I’ll rest when I get to heaven,” true, but without enjoying rest on earth, fewer unbelievers will see in our lives the Jesus who says, “I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens.” He who commemorated rest after His work of creation is the Lord of the sabbath, who expects His child to regularly rest.

“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:10-11, KJV).

Labor not to labor is necessary for thorough rest. Which means taking the time to plan time away from work, to work at resting well takes a concerted effort. Structure the calendar in a way that trusts others to take care of the work while you are away. Preparation becomes a pleasure, which grows into anticipation for rest and renewal. It’s life-giving. God rested and said His creation was good, while Jesus when His work on the cross was complete, exclaimed, “It is finished”—then He rested. In a similar manner, celebrate your work as good and embrace your reward of rest.

The best rest comes to believers who trust work will be there when they return. No need to break your back with overwork, which can be an expression of unbelief. Trust that the Lord can accomplish more with His Spirit at work than you can in months of striving. He can open doors of opportunity you cannot budge. He can slam shut dead end doors to save you time. Rest. Enjoy God in His creation. Charles Spurgeon describes the peace and calm of creation, “But get away into the woods, traverse the wilds of nature, and see how restful everything is there. Note how the birds seem to have little else to do but to sing God’s praises, mark how the very brooks warble as they flow, and how all creation that is untouched by man appears to delight in a deep, profound calm and peace.” Most of all, meet with gentle Jesus and enjoy rest for your souls!

“Come to me and I will give you rest—all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke—for it fits perfectly—and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens” (Matthew 11:28-29).

Relational health

Care for one another. 1 Corinthians 12:25

The Apostle Paul instructed the Corinthian church to care for one another. Such a simple and clear command/instruction. To give attention to, be concerned, look out for, and protect are a few ways to describe relational care. Care takes time and requires discernment of what another needs. Paul’s remarks are in the context of the diversity in the Body of Christ, caring for another different from you is especially necessary. There is no better example of two uniquely different individuals than a man and woman in marriage. Be empathetic, listen with heart and mind, and love with words so the other feels cared for and loved. Relational health requires compassionate care, looking out for another by providing security, being respectful, and feeling understood. 

“So husbands should care for their wives as if their lives depended on it, the same way they care for their own bodies. As you love her, you ultimately are loving part of yourself (remember, you are one flesh)” (Ephesians 5:28).

Care for each other flows from Christ’s care of you and your care for yourself. Jesus calls to you in loving concern for your desires and dreams. What a beautiful template for conversations as you gently seek to know your spouse’s wants and needs. Kindly ask, “How can I meet your needs right now? Do you want to be helped, heard, or hugged?” Patience to help another diagnose desires is the first step in caring by bringing clarity. Fear fills in the blanks where there is an emotional fog; its reaction stings instead of being soothing. Sometimes, there is no need for words, just sitting in silence and being together. Quietness can invite relational calm by communicating I care for you, and your presence reassures me of your love. Be still together.

Care is the best medicine when another is hurting. Help each other move from anger to vulnerability with statements like, “This is what I experienced, this is what I am feeling, and this is what would make me feel better.” Cruel is a conversation that lacks clarity of what someone really needs and wants, but truly caring is a conversation that clearly states what the other one wants and needs. So, strong doses of patient love are medicinal for relational care to bring clarity to everyone’s expectations. When husband and wife lean into the Lord's loving-kindness to fill their hearts and minds with the Holy Spirit’s power, relational care is the good fruit. Focus on Father, Son, and Spirit to care for and change you, pray for and trust God to change your spouse, and with the Spirit’s leading, love and care for your lover. And in the process, both of you passionately pursue God and each other. Relational health grows best when you both care.

“You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit” (Job 10:12).

The big picture

Or do you think God’s word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was given? 1 Corinthians 14:36

Two seemingly contradictory truths lie at the heart of the Christian faith. On the one hand, you and I are unique and unrepeatable, known and beloved by God as His children. The details of our lives matter and we are made for eternity. Yet on the other hand, as individuals we are small and insignificant, cast in the tiniest of supporting roles in the grand narrative of history, here today and gone tomorrow, a mist that appears and then quickly vanishes (James 4:14). 

I believe wisdom is found in holding these two truths closely together in our hearts, never losing sight of one or the other. 

Our participation in God’s great story of redemption gives us a faithful lens through which we can better understand the particular details of our daily lives. As Paul rhetorically asked the early Christians in Corinth, “Do you think God’s word originated with you?” They were greatly helped in their journey of faith by realizing and remembering afresh that they were part of a much bigger story that predated them by thousands of years and into which they had been invited to participate. With centuries of church history that stand between us and the Corinthians, this is all the more true for us.

It is incredibly easy to get lost in the details of everyday life and to cast ourselves as the leading role in the story of our lives. 

As we’ve noted above, in part this is understandable and even right. We must be attentive to the life we’ve been given, living it by faith in God and empowered by his grace. Yet if we sense our life is imbalanced and overly focused on our own story, take time today to remember the bigger picture, giving thanks to God for the countless men and women who came before, bearing witness in their own day to the love of God in Christ. As we do, let us take our place alongside them, living holy and faithful lives that embody the mercy of God in the details of our lives, and at the same time connect our story to the song God is singing over the whole of his creation. 

Generosity & humility

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

Gratitude and generosity are most certainly fruits of humility. Think about those whom you know who are humble of heart, not looking to be the center of attention, but those who look to help others. When you reflect on these other-centered selfless friends, aren’t you attracted to the almost effortless manner in which they celebrate God’s blessings with gratitude, and how they express their gratefulness by seeking to be a blessing to others, generosity.  Such are the generous expressions of a humble, grateful life. A close look at the lifestyle of Jesus is able to quickly assess his intentional manner of going out of His way to show the way to those lost, confused, and neglected. Jesus gave glory and gratitude to His Father and, out of this humble attitude, sought to serve and love others, so they might give glory and gratitude to God.

Paul opens Ephesians 4:2 with a call for humility, a humble heart is the foyer of a life that flows into the other inviting rooms of gentleness, patience, and love. This verse could be a commentary on the opening words of Jesus’ most famous sermon in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Humility is the sermon introduction and serves as the foundation to build on our Lord’s most challenging teachings of turning the other cheek, praying for and loving our enemies, and the sanctity of marriage, just to name a few of His famous words. Jesus’ greatest hits (teachings), without the melody of humility, can feel burdensome and unachievable but lived out with generous humility, are life-changing and compelling for Christ. 

Alexander MacLaren beautifully elevates the essential nature of being poor in spirit as the first and foundational beatitude to the Sermon on the Mount: 

To be poor in spirit is to be in inmost reality conscious of need, of emptiness, of dependence on God, of demerit; the true estimate of self, as blind, evil, weak, is intended; the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation… Christ begins His portraiture of a citizen of the kingdom with the consciousness of want and sin. All the rest of the morality of the Sermon is founded on this. It is the root of all that is heavenly and divine in character. So, this teaching is dead against the modern pagan doctrine of self-reliance and really embodies the very principle for the supposed omission of which some folk like this Sermon, namely, that our proud self-confidence must be broken down before God can do any good with us, or we can enter His kingdom. 

Humility first gives 100% to God. 

I read this moving story recently describing a generous, humble, and gentle soul:

One hot afternoon on a beach, people noticed a young girl drowning. They quickly rescued her. The little girl was unconscious. An old man from a nearby cottage hurriedly reached for the girl lying down on the seashore. As the old man was about to hold the girl, a furious guy warned the people surrounding the girl to step aside, including the old man.

“I was trained to do CPR. Stay out of this! Let me do it!” the guy exclaimed.

The old man stood up and stepped behind the guy, and watched quietly while the latter was performing CPR for the girl. After almost a minute, the little girl regained consciousness. The people around them felt relieved and began applauding the guy. The old man, who looked very happy, gratefully congratulated the guy as well. After two hours, however, the guy who saved the girl suddenly felt too much fatigue, experienced difficulty in breathing, and became unconscious. A few minutes later, he woke up in an ambulance, rushing him to the nearest hospital. Beside him was the old man he saw earlier at the beach, now checking his pulse rate. The old man did CPR on him while he was unconscious. This time he learned that the old man was a doctor. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a doctor?” he asked.

The doctor just smiled and answered: “It doesn’t matter to me whether you call me a doctor or not. A precious life was in danger. I became a doctor not for fame but to save lives. We had the same goal, and that was to save the girl. Nothing can surpass the feeling that you have just saved another life. There’s a lot of things to be protected other than our ego.”

Yes, we all grow in humility when we are gentle and patient, bearing one another in love.

Daily praise

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:1-3 

As a kid, I always struggled with the idea of heaven that was presented to me. Often I was told, “It will be like a never-ending worship service.” For some, this was enough to move the heart in wonder and deepen their longing for paradise, yet as someone who found church to be a test of endurance, I greatly struggled to see the appeal of a sermon and songs that played on repeat for eternity, while we did our best to not squirm or make a sound in the pews.  

You may at times struggle with the words of Scripture that invite this life of never-ending praise, not only in the age to come, but in this very moment. As Psalm 145 declares, “Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.” If we’re honest, we may read these psalms and think, “That’s great for you, King David, but I’m struggling to hit my ‘every Sunday’ target, not to mention every day.” If this rings true for you, you’re not alone.

One of the most important works of discipleship is our ability to live an integrated life. We must resist at every turn the temptation to view our life of faith as something over there, and our “real life” as existing over here, with little or no interaction between the two. Yes, a weekly rhythm of dedicated worship and prayer with your community of faith is a vital lifeline that nourishes and sustains your life of faith. Yet for the vast majority of us, our lives also take us to work, to the grocery store, and to parent-teacher meetings, and it is in these spaces that we may struggle to maintain the connection to Sunday morning. 

Acts 17:28 reminds us that “In him we live and move and have our being,” and I believe this verse may be a key that unlocks David’s ancient words of everyday praise. We must begin to cultivate senses that are able to discern the presence of God, even in the most unexpected of places. Yes, God is present in the sanctuary of his people, yet he is also at work in our work and places of play, for he sustains us every moment of every day. If we can begin to see this, then our lives become more and more integrated, for we realize that there is never a moment in which He is absent. What’s needed is for us to discern his sustaining presence that was with us all along.

Contentment

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Growing up, “count your blessings” was a phrase I often heard, in one place or another whether at home, church, and from coaches in post game speeches. It seemed to be an especially common response whenever one was feeling tempted to covet the success or possessions of someone else. Yes, we may have a beautiful home in which we live, or the faithful love of a spouse who sticks with us through thick and thin, but someone else may have a home and a pool, a spouse and children. Substitute these examples for the countless ways in which we are personally tempted, and you get the idea. 

If we ever find ourself in a struggle count your blessings, it may be that you need to reassess your definition of a blessed life. 

For the Christian, according to St. Paul, there is a singular blessing from which endless life and “fulfillment,” to use a modern phrase, flows: Christ Himself. Listen again to His words from Ephesians 1:3. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” In Christ, every possible blessing is to be found. If you feel your life lacks blessing, it is most likely rooted in a search for blessings in all the wrong places: relationships, possessions, positions of power, physical beauty, or good health. 

For the disciple of Christ, each of these earthly blessings can be lacking or limited while still living a life of complete blessedness and peace. Look to the countless examples of the saintly men and women who have gone before us: people who endured poverty, illness, and even torture for their faith, yet content in every way. When we know and encounter the living Christ, everything else is transformed before our eyes. Contentment rushes in and the concerns of this earthly life are seen for what they truly are: momentary and fleeting distractions that keep us from setting our hearts and lives fully upon the joy of heaven, where we will know Christ and be known by Him forever.

Whatever this season of life may hold for us, hold fast to this truth: in Christ we have received every possible blessing.