Proverbs 21:2 - "All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart."
1 Corinthians 4:5 - "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time, wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God." Why do we do what we do? Do we do good works to win the praise of people, or do we do them because it is what God wants? I will concede that if we do a good work on our own and people are helped in some way, they will be grateful, but we should pray that their gratitude would be to God as well. I will confess that the temptation to win the praise of people is difficult to overcome. All of us want to be appreciated for what we do. Somebody asked me one time if I got tired of people saying, "I enjoyed the sermon." My answer was, and always is, "no." Would I want them to say "lousy sermon today." The important question is what was my motive when I preached the sermon? If I preached because I was led of God to do so, then God was pleased, and, because He was, the people were blessed. All I can say when people say nice things to me about my preaching, or any other Christian service, is "thank you." If I know in my heart that my motive was to please the Lord, I don't need to explain that to them. They will also give God the credit. Over the years, I have discovered that the greatest motive that the Lord lays on our hearts is love. We minister to people because we love God and people. Indeed, preaching should be done from the motive of love, whether we have a negative point or a positive point to make. The motive should never be, "I'm gonna tell'em today." Love should be the motive for every Christian, not just preachers. The important message is that God knows "the motives of men's (and women's) hearts." God knows why we do what we do.. Our prayer should be what is expressed in Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." That should be what we pray for when we serve. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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