Motives
Who doesn’t want to be successful? I mean really. Who hasn’t fantasized about that house, or that car, and that lifestyle? The level of luxury may not be the same among us all, but I don’t know a person alive who doesn’t desire a touch of luxury from time to time. Does that make us bad people? Absolutely not! There are some people, however, that would love to argue that with me though. That's neither here nor there. Everyone is definitely entitled to their opinions for sure.
When I was younger, I had my life somewhat planned out. After high school would come college. After college would come my money-making career. I would then go on to meet the man of my dreams, have a huge wedding, and spend the first few years of our lives together getting money, traveling, and getting to know each other as husband and wife. Kids would then come, and then we would spend the rest of our days living the dream life. I was super detailed when it came to my life. Well, things didn’t quite work out that way. I actually ended up married and with a family at the age of 19. After being married for over a decade and four kids later, I FINALLY went back to college for the 100th time and then graduated. Prior to graduating though, I had attempted to go back a few other times, but nothing really stuck. It took me a few years to figure out what my problem was. I was striving to be a success because that’s what I felt other people expected of me. I was fairly popular in high school. Nothing to write home about, but people knew me. I was active with school clubs, band, and cheer. I was the “princess” of our church. Preacher’s kid. I felt like people expected me to be more than what I was. Apart of me felt some type of way because I didn’t have my degree and I hadn’t purchased that home by age 25. Let me be clear, my life with my husband and kids wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t how I planned it.
Years ago, pastor/husband and I would go out and visit churches. One of the particular churches we visited invited me to speak. (If you know me, you know I don’t really like speaking in front of other people) I was nervous. My husband is the Pastor, not me. I never wanted to be one, and never claimed to be one. I just liked to sing and sit down. Anyway, I ended up being asked to speak and I agreed to it. Next, I had the task of trying to figure out what in the world I would speak about. I have never wanted to be one of those people who would get up and just talk about random things when it came to the word of God. I wanted to know what I was talking about and I wanted it to be sincere. Even more, I wanted God to be pleased with what I was saying. To make a long story short, I ended up speaking about “Motives”. This word ate me up before I even had the opportunity to share it with others. Part of the reason why things were not going the way I wanted them to go in my life, was because my motives in wanting them in the first place were all wrong. After getting married and having babies, I wanted to go back to school and get my education, not because I wanted to take better care of my family. No…that was too much like right! I wanted to look successful in the eyes of other people. I wanted people to look at me and see that “I made it”. Crazy right? I know it is, but that’s my truth. I felt like there was an expectation placed on me to “be somebody”, and I had t live up to it. I later realized that the expectation that I was trying to live up to was all in my head.
God’s word says that He desires for us to have life, and to have it more abundantly. However, there are stipulations to this abundance. Our motives mean EVERYTHING. Why are you praying for this house? Why are you wanting an overflow of money? Why is your education so important? Is it because you want to become a better person? Do you want these things because you want to be able to take care of your family and give glory to God? Or, do you want these things because you want others to see that “you made it”? Let’s be clear, God will never give you anything that will take away from your relationship with him. He wants you to be blessed, but these blessings are meant to bring you closer to him and to draw others to him. I will be honest with you, at first, I wanted these things because I was trying to live up to an invisible expectation. When my motives changed, my life changed. When my way of thinking changed, God was then able to open up doors for me because I was ready to receive.
So why am I saying all of this? I am encouraging you to check your motives. Why do you want the things you want? If you are professing to be a Christian, your motives BETTER be in the right place, because non-believers will be able to sniff you out from a mile away, and honestly they should. They should sniff you out and call you out. Church folks, we MUST do better. It is imperative to the kingdom of God that we do better. Let’s check these motives. There is nothing wrong with wanting better in life, but you sure better have a reason as to why you want better in life. Evaluate your reasoning. Are you trying to please God or please people?
