Why do we go to church? Why do we forgive people? Why do we pray? These questions have been on my mind the past week, especially today. When we sin, why should we care to repent and seek forgiveness? These questions are huge in our daily walk with the Lord. I believe that God is more concerned with the ‘why’ than the ‘what’.
I say this because especially in the area of career choice, we put so much pressure on ourselves. We ask, “am I in the will of God even in the career I am in?” The answer to that is yes!! God has placed us precisely where we are, and if our heart is to please Him, then that is the key. Our reason for doing things, especially when it comes to spiritual matters, has major implications. We can pray all day and give everything we have to church or other people, but if our motives are skewed, it doesn’t mean much at all… if I may be so bold to say.
In Scripture, Jesus says, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5). Essentially, Jesus is telling us that our why is greater than our what. Ultimately, it points us back to Christ because we have to depend on His power to even have our hearts in the right place.
Deep in our hearts, we desire to do what is right. We should do the right things, most definitely, but we should also think heavily about why we do them. For a short season, I stopped going to church because my motives were not totally right. I began to go just to see my friends and to sit close to the stage. I was listening to a message, and the pastor said that if we have the totally wrong motive with something, it might be good to take a break from the norm and get a fresh perspective. So that is what I did. In that break from church, I really feel that God imparted a lot into me on how I need His strength every second of every day. How I ultimately need to depend on Him even to help my motives be pure and real.
I just want to encourage us all to really dig deep into why we do certain things. Is it for the glory of God, or is it for us to be noticed? I firmly believe that once we really set our hearts to have pure motives, our lives will show immaculate amounts of fruit for the world to see. The power of God is so impactful, so let us live it out and know our why.
Love you all,
Ryan W.
