Judging our motives

Call To Prayer 

Title: Judging our motives 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

Date: 06.10.2023 

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Mathew 6:1 

As humans what we see are actions and that is what we judge by because that is our limit. However, God judges the intentions and not just the actions. In other words, God sees the heart (1 Samual 16:7). In God’s sight, your motive is more important than what you do (1 Samual 15:22). We might pretend in the sight of men, but we cannot deceive God. 

In our opening verse, the Lord say’s “be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them”. We see that although practicing righteousness is good, the Lord tells us to be careful, to watch, to judge our motive for doing it. It should not be because we are seeking approval from men. It should not be because we want to be perceived to be more than what we are. The Lord says if you are doing it for men’s approval, you may get it, but be rest assured, there is no reward from Him. 

The following verses of Mathew chapter 6, that is the verses 2-7 go ahead to give two examples; giving to the needy and making a public show of it and praying in public to impress. Other examples might be preaching the word or singing with the desire to be admired. The Lord says “Be careful…” meaning that it is easy to fall into this kind of temptation. The Lord knows that it feels good to be admired, to be approved, nonetheless, He instructs us to seek Him first and these things will be added (Mathew 6:33). So, it is not that you are not aware of fame, power or money but that your primary focus or attention is not on them, lest they become our idols leading us to idolatry. God’s pattern is that we seek to honour Him and He will take care of honouring us (1 Samual 2:30, John 8:29).  

We must therefore be careful to judge our motives and realign them accordingly. Let’s make sure our primary intention is first and foremost to honour God. We should endeavour to be always motivated by love, for the one who loves is perfect (John 13:34).  

Prayer Point 

Let’s thank God for the word today. Let’s pray for God to purge our hearts of wrong motives and the grace to be always motivated by love for God and for neighbour.