Motive

Solomon, my son, get to know the God of your ancestors. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9

When you watch a courtroom drama, the district attorney is looking for one thing that will get a solid conviction: motive. Motive is the reason why someone does or doesn’t do something.

You might have experienced a relationship with someone who has selfish motives; you leave the relationship feeling used. Or you might have been involved in a business or project with someone with ulterior motives, and you leave the relationship feeling betrayed or deceived.

On the flip side, you might have been in a group with people who had selfless motives, and you go away from that experience feeling amazed at the altruistic, kind, and sacrificial nature of people.

How do we know? How can we tell someone’s motives? First Corinthians 4:5 gives us a caution to not judge before the Lord comes. He is the One who will expose the motives of each person’s heart.

David, too, gave this warning to his own son before Solomon became king in 1 Chronicles 28:9. We are to watch our own motives and pray that we will see people from God’s perspective because God says he will bring the motive to light. When God’s spotlight gets to me, I just pray my motives are pure.