The right motivation

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ! Corinthians 10:31 ESV

                Dr. R. Albert Mohler often speaks of theological triage as a process of determining the priority, importance, of given issues. It is a good place to start when trying to determine what to do in any given situation.  It is sometimes a messy process, and 1 Corinthians 10 provides such an example. Idolatry is clearly wrong, and cannot ever be in any way right. We might think then that we should take every precaution to avoid partaking in anything related to idolatry, such as eating food offered to idols. But Paul instructs us not even to ask, and only to abstain if the information is volunteered. You see there are some other considerations to be taken into account.

                One consideration which we must always keep in mind whatever we are doing is that of motivation. It is not enough to do right; we must do right for the right reason. To do right for the wrong reason is to do wrong. You see every decision sets and reinforces a principle. That principle is determined more by the reasons behind our actions than by the actions themselves. If I take action to appease a group of people I have bowed to people. If I take action because I gain some advantage I have bowed to self-interest.

                Whatever I am doing I need to be able to show that the reason for it is to glorify God. I might be glorify god by obey His command to love my neighbors and appease them in some matter where I am free to do so. But at the end of the day my action is about God and not men.  This requires more thought, but it is worth the effort. I do not say the value of this effort will be immediately apparent, though sometimes it may be, but in the eternal perspective it is always worth the effort.

Prayer

                Father may all we do be done to for the sake of glory. In this we ask for wisdom, and thank You for the direction of your word. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song

Jesus cast a look on me

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Against work addiction

  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2 ESV             When work becomes anxious toil, something has gone wrong. Something has gone wrong in our society when it comes to work. Several decades ago, Wayne Oats coined a new word, “Workaholic” to describe addiction to work.   The description Oats came up resonates with the psalmist describes. Anxious toiling, long hours, and little if any enjoyment of the work itself or the fruits of the toil. Addiction is another word for slavery, and it is easy to be enslaved by the anxiety over our work for it drives to work more, and that increases our anxiety while also burning through psychological energies.             Not only is workaholism addiction/slavery, it is idolatry for if we stop to think about it the workaholic has placed his hope in his own work. Beloved what is truly tragic is that we live in society that admires the workaholi
Read more

Up and ahead

              Sometimes we are blindsided by a sudden shift in life. We thought we were on stable ground, and then someone starts shouting at us in a routine meeting, or tells us we don’t have a job anymore on a Monday morning, or a loved one leaves on Friday evening with no plans to return. We are left with broken piece of something that once made a kind of sense to us. We knew, and now we do not know.             Where is God? We can’t see Him anymore. We cannot understand where He went to, or what he was thinking. We trusted Him, didn’t we? Now look where we are… It is the better part of wisdom to be quiet when these calamities come to visit and to wait. It is the one wise thing Job’s friend did, when first they saw the plight of the miserable man, they only wept with him.             When later they decided to try and explain things, it did not help Job at all. What could they tell him? They didn’t have answers. And a lot of times we do not have answers either. We are too sca
Read more

Let me tell you something you already know

  Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.   I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:12-15 ESV             Peter greets the saints who obtained from Christ a faith of equal in standing, Peter is no more saved than they are, and they have no more salvation than Peter has. Nevertheless, Peter begins his letter by urging these saints, and by extension all of us, to increase in the faith and add to it such qualities as are consistent with the character of Christ. This is right, it is part of the promise, and it leads to an effective and fruitful faith. Failure to grow thus shows one has not understood the knowledge of Christ.            
Read more