Grace and peace to you beloved of God,
My morning devotions yesterday brought me to 1Corinthians 13, the Love chapter, how appropriate right, since it was Valentines Day. First I read through it, then began reading some commentators thoughts on the chapter. When I got to one of the comments for verse 3, it was like a bolt of lightning struck, ka-boom!
"If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV
The comment went like this "Love cannot be measured alone by actions, motives must be assessed in order to determine what really is love." I read that and at first just said, well duh, of course motives have to be considered. As I thought about it more, I began to realize that even though I know it's true, in general, it's not emphasized adequately at all (IMO) in Christian circles and nor in my home, I must confess.
Imagine if our Lord Jesus praying in the garden said "You know Father, I really don't care about these people and I just don't want to do it. I mean why should I bother wasting my life for these pathetic people when they haven't done anything for me. I'll go through with it but only because you're making me do it..." Would we have any real hope if that was Christ's attitude towards us? How could we trust that he wanted us to be a part of his Father's kingdom?
The hypothetical thought is simply to point out that I believe the motives behind our actions are what define the actions. As a parent, I look back over my parenting career and it saddens me how much time I wasted simply trying to teach my children how to act the right way. I should have been focusing on their hearts, molding them to love and care, for the right reasons. Then the loving actions would naturally follow, from right motives. Now don't get me wrong I don't think of myself as a failed parent because it took me so long to realize this. I just look back and realize how far off base my own heart and its motives were a decade ago. Oh how long and hard have I and other like me preached the idea that love is displayed through your actions yet totally skipped the most important part, the understanding of the why, the motive.
As Christians we need to be intentionally mindful of our own heart and it's motives. I can't speak for you but in my case, when I thought about it, I realized that much of what I do that would be called a "loving action", I am only doing out of habit or duty. So the reality is many of the good things I do throughout the day are completely void of real love. This is and has been part of a theme that God has been teaching me over the last few months and I freely admit that I've a lot of room to grow here. Before you jump up and say "aren't you just being a little to harsh on your self there Teagan?" Ask yourself, how you're doing in this area. Are the true motivations of your heart involved when you interact with the world of people around you and circumstances God has placed you in? Or is most of it just habit and tradition? In my last post I said that everything we do has the potential to either honor God or dishonor God.
Getting to the point, it boils down to this. As a Christian my life is supposed to display the power of the Gospel, the undeserved grace, mercy and love that God has for His people. So if that's the point of my life, I have to ask myself, "Am I honoring God with my "good actions" when I do them out of habit or duty?" If not then, "How can I be more intentional with the motives and reasoning in my heart as they are displayed through my actions?
If I am truly intent on growing in Christ, and I am and hope you are to, then a great place to start is on my knees before the throne of Grace. God is deeply concerned with the condition of my heart and He will gladly assist in helping to purge worthless deeds done out of habit. So that He can make room for developing a heart of grace that loves to be His hands and feet to the world around us.
"Father God, you alone are the only wise God and you alone deserve our praise and worship. Forgive me Lord for acting the part, far too often, instead of truly living it. Fill my heart precious Lord with more grace and mercy and give me the strength to pour it back out onto the world around me. May your Spirit guide and direct my thinking to protect me from falling into the habit loveless actions. My desire is for you to be known through me. I know that in my own strength I can not do this but with you oh Lord all things are possible, so give me the wisdom and grace to do your will with real, true and pure motives from a heart completely submitted to you. For the Glory of your fame dear Father, I pray in Jesus name, Amen."
For the Joy of Your Faith,
Teagan
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