testing my motives

For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4

Motivations can be tricky things. I doubt I truly discern the motives of another person. I sometimes have a hard time figuring out why I do the things I do, let alone have certainty about others, even family with whom I am close. But when I start to ask myself two questions regularly, I can begin to root out my motivations more clearly.

The first question is: Why do I do what I do? The answer is somewhat simple: I do what I do because I want something. For instance, I spend an evening tying flies at the vise because I want to have the tools I need to catch fish when I am on the water. That’s pretty straightforward. The answer is much more complicated though when sin enters the picture. What did I want when I yelled at my kids? What was I hopping to achieve when I gossiped about someone? Sometimes even legitimate wants get warped into selfish actions and demands.

The second question helps root out the selfishness and sinful motives: Who am I hoping to please? I guarantee in a problematic relationship or rough patch of my life, 99% of the time the answer is: I want to please me. But Paul, who suffered much, made his motivation for gospel ministry in life very focused: “to please God Who tests our hearts”. He will honor true actions meant to please Him. Knowing He tests our motives forces us to align our hearts to be more self-resistant and more God-focused. And those motives will help us live lives pleasing to the Lord.