Check Your Motivation - Genesis 14 Series

Today we’re going to look at motives. I want you to just examine your own motives for a bit. Motives are those things that are kind of inside the heart of a person. Caleb even says when he thinks about the heart that’s what he thinks about. He thinks about motives. That’s what is this deeper stuff within us. Because we take action. We make decisions. Every day we’re doing things. And that’s the behavior of life. But it’s good for us every once in a while to step back and say, “Why am I doing this? What are my motives in accomplishing this?” Because I think sometimes our motives can start well, but then they start moving in some different directions. You remember the Pharisees. Their motives started well probably that they wanted to serve the Lord. They wanted to please Him. But then they started pleasing people instead and they started being religious and not being able to see Jesus when He came. So something happened in their motives. It’s the heart that’s so important. So take some opportunity today and think about your own motives. Your motivation for doing what you do.

The Bible has several things to say about motives. Let me show you some verses that describe this. Proverbs 16:2 says – All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Now that must be a warning for us. Because what it says is all of the ways that we have, all of a person’s ways seem pure to them. In other words I think people are generally consistent. Every person is internally consistent that they think that all their world makes sense and that’s why they do what they do. Sometimes we’re trying to say, “Yeah, it makes sense to you, but it sure doesn’t make sense to me.” So we’re trying to change their mind. But people believe that they are consistent, that they are internally pure, that they got it together. Or maybe not got it together, but they’re doing things in reacting and acting in response to some consistent thinking inside of them. But the contrast is God weighs the motives. So motives are important about why we’re doing things. So we need to step back and ask ourselves the question about our own motives. Why do we do what we do? Why are we making the decisions that we’re making? Great question to ask.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:4 it says – For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. Our purpose is to please God, not people. But it’s so easy for us in our lives to start pleasing people and not God. Or maybe we’re trying to please God, but we’re really trying to please people. So the people-pleasing motive gets in the way there. And notice it says there – He alone examines the motive of our hearts.

It also affects our prayer life, as James 4:3 says – When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. So if your prayer is “Lord, make me happy today,” likely you’re going to end up with a problem and you’re not going to get what you want. Because if you pursue happiness you don’t find it. That’s not how you get it. You might get pleasure and it might be nice for a while. But pursuing pleasure leads to addiction. If we pursue the God-filled life then happiness, pleasure is a byproduct. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. In other words you don’t seek the other things, you seek the Lord. So motives become very important for us as we’re pursuing our understanding.

I want you to think about motives for a moment. Let me give you some very practical examples before we look at our passage in Genesis 14. Here are some external motivations. I want you to look at these. And I want to look at some internal motivations. Because when you become a Christian, your motivations start to change. You move from external motivation to more internal motivation in your life. You just do. That’s what it means to follow Christ. That’s what He taught us. You’re going to see that today all the more.

I grew up in a Christian home, so my life was always learning more about what it means to be internally motivated instead of externally motivated. That’s just part of living the Christian life. So if you’re externally motivated, you’re asking what am I going to get out of this? What’s the reward I’m going to get? If you’re going to choose to do an activity you want to know how it’s going to benefit you.