I see you this way, but I see myself....

I have to say Craig Groeschel hit the nail on the head this past weekend when he pointed out how differently each of us views a 'fault' depending on whether you have it or it is my own personal one! He said something like 'we view your life by your actions, while we view our own by our intentions'. Telling isn't it? We judge another by their actions - while all the while we justify our actions by evaluating out intentions, not our actions! At times, we are presented with individuals who seem to have an "ulterior motive" in their actions. In other words, what is presented is really a "mask" for something being done to deceive the individual on the receiving end of the action. One thing is said, another is meant. One thing is done, but the intention behind it is completely contrary to the "appearance". This is dangerous ground for us - simply because we really don't know what to expect, or when to trust. If it is out own actions getting us into this muddle, good Lord help us!

Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road. (Proverbs 21:8)

We would probably call an "ulterior" motive a "second motive" - one which is usually a little selfish in nature. The end result is a life in tangles - a messed up wad of goofy stuff that has to be untangled, or discarded as a waste of time and energy! Not my idea of where I want to be living! In fact, when I am faced with these kind of individuals, I tend to pull back from relationship with them - simply because I cannot trust their intentions and they have a tendency to "complicate" my life! Imagine that individual as yourself and then ask yourself if that may be the reason others pull back from you on occasion - they are tired of dealing with your "mixed motives" and "double standards" - one you set for others, while you maintain a totally different one for yourself. I have been there! I have lived that way and it is just not right.

I don't always have the purest motives! I just try my best not to purposely work in the realm of "secret" or "hidden" agendas! I don't like the tangles they create and have chosen to allow God to help me avoid some of those tangles I had created in my life in times gone by. God is perfectly aware of our "hidden" motives - those we'd call "selfish" in nature. Like the times we ask God to bless us with a new car, a new job, a new relationship, and what we are really saying is, "God, I don't like the one you have already blessed me with!" People who purposefully set out to deceive by their actions leave the lives of those they touch in a mess of tangles. In fact, they are never free from the tangles themselves - because any life of deception requires a whole lot of effort to keep up the façade of untruths used to mask the reality of what lies just beneath the surface! I think these are the individuals God was "aiming at" in the verse above - those who hide their guilt behind a façade. I lived there for a long time and am so glad to be free of that 'masked life'.

Pure motives keep you on a straight path. God understands our "bent" toward selfish motives, but he expects as we become aware of them, we will hurriedly lay them at the foot of the altar and have them changed by the touch of his grace. If we are finding our life caught up in a jumble of tangles as a result of the deceptiveness of our actions and thoughts, we might need some altar time to untangle the mess we've created! In examining the word "tangle", I found it not only relates to the mess of inter-twisted parts, but also to be caught up or held in a trap or snare of some sort. Mixed motives actually entrap us - snaring us in their strong and strangling grip. There is a hampering effect which occurs anytime the motives we choose to obey are those which are not pure in nature. They hamper our growth, relationships, and even our access to God. Perhaps this is why God places so much emphasis on purity of heart! His goal is to never have anything keep us from straight-forward, immediate, and unhindered access to him! Mixed motives deceive - pure motives open the doors of trust. Mixed motives ensnare - pure motives allow freedom in relationship. Mixed motives will overgrow if never checked! We need to be constantly examining our motives - not in light of our own perceptions - but in the light of the Cross. The Cross exposes what is just beneath the surface - hidden though it might have been - revealing exactly what it is we are "covering over". Never forget...at the altar - we are altered. Never "under-value" the time you spend at the altar of God's grace! Just sayin!

The standard by which we live

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. (Henry Ward Beecher)

I have a small sign in my office that was given to me some years ago. It was given as a way of reminding me of my importance as a leader in healthcare. I was actually being honored by my peers when I received it, but it has been with me ever since because it reminds me of a very important fact - we lead by example. The sign simply says, "Every time we walk by the violation of a standard, we set a new standard." I believe this is a derivation of what Lieutenant General David Morrison said when he is quoted as saying, "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." There are times we 'set new standards' because our behavior doesn't match the past standard we had come to follow, aren't there? When we drift from a standard, what is one of the most common things we do? Don't we attempt to cover it up by making an excuse for that violation of the standard? Rarely do we find ourselves acknowledging our variation in standard as a path we should not have taken in the first place. Whenever we do acknowledge that 'wrong path', we aren't setting a new standard, we are finally sharing that we aren't willing to accept excuses for our wrong behavior.

If you excuse yourself, saying, “Look, we didn’t know anything about this,” doesn’t God, who knows what you are really thinking, understand your motives? Isn’t your Protector aware of why you aren’t protecting the innocent? Will He not repay you in kind? (Proverbs 24:12)

Behavior is somewhat based upon the situation - at least that is what we'd like to tell ourselves. If we can 'blame' the circumstances for our behavior, we don't have to shoulder the blame ourselves. The problem with this type of action on our part is that there will always be some 'circumstance' that we can blame! We will never shoulder the blame, or make the right course corrections - we will never be observed adjusting our behavior 'back to standard' if we are always shifting the blame. The standard is declared in the Word of God - it was modeled in his Son's life while on earth - and it can be seen in the lives of others who adhere to these standards themselves. We are not without positive examples of how to behave - we just might turn a blind eye to those standards! Our true heartfelt motives are often revealed in the worst of times. I'd have to say that things are kind of tough right now for our nation. We are having to adjust to business and school closures, a lack of income for some who are forced to 'not work' during the shutdown, and even a lack of supply for others as the demands seem to be escalating all around us. How we face these 'circumstances' right now might just reveal a little bit of our underlying motives.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can oftentimes find the places where we have allowed a new standard to be set in our lives. Stop for just a moment to consider the last action you took in terms of what you said or did for or toward another individual. Was it honorable? Was it done from a right motivation? Did it build up? Did it meet a need? If we perhaps snatched up the last bag of dried beans or package of toilet paper off the shelf when we already have a stockpile at home, we might have to acknowledge the action was neither honorable or with the right motive. If we then took those beans and toilet paper to a shut-in senior who cannot find a way to the grocer right now, we might say those actions built up and provided for a real need for that senior. Our actions speak very clearly of our motivation - they also reveal the standard by which we live. Just sayin!

What's that I see?

We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives. (Pr. 21:2)

I can honestly way that we sometimes spend far more time working to show ourselves as good, or as justified in what we do, than in trying to change what it is we are doing. We want to be free from blame or guilt that might be associated with our actions or thoughts, but really don't rise above the wrong ones as much as we'd like to. What is worse is that we look at the actions of another and we begin to form judgments about that individual based solely upon their actions. The problem: we are making evaluation of that individual by what we see on the outside. We evaluate the activities of man, thinking we know the motives based on the actions that we see revealed - but I think we can also be totally truthful here - it is almost impossible for us to know the motives of another.

It is pretty clear to me that actions do not always align with motives. This is why God looks closer at the motives of our heart than the activities we engage in. In fact, he told us he'd rather have their worship - stemming from a grateful heart - than any measure of sacrifice.  Our motives are those inner drives, or impulses, that lead to action on our part. God knows the specific reason for our actions - man does not, although he tries to by means of 'analysis' and 'patterns' which are manifested frequently enough. They call this profiling in the law enforcement community. Yet, we all know a 'profile' is just a guess - it is not always going to be spot on. So, the lesson for us: Don't rely on appearances! We may find ourselves in a position of mis-judging someone and then be guilty of forming very incorrect opinions about their actions.

The important thing for us to remember is that "mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road." Since God pays such close attention to our motives, it would be wise to ask him to keep us on track with those motives. When our motives are selfish, we make choices that are self-serving and "anti-Christlike" in appearance. If he knows our motives, it is also possible he has the way to help us change them from the inside out - so that our appearance matches our motives! Pure, pollution-free, motives get at the heart of right choices - when we are influenced by motives that are tainted by any form of self, we make wrong choices. Those wrong choices lead to wrong paths in our daily walk - inconsistencies in our choices. It is when we are on those wrong paths that we appear to "walk alone". God wants us on paths that don't lead to our destruction - involved in things that just end up tying us up in "knots" on the inside!

Nothing clever, nothing conceived, nothing contrived, can ever get the better of God. Clever stuff is the kind of stuff that is "thought to be smart", but often proves to be far from intelligent when put to the test (in fact, it usually is kind of dumb). We will do well to remember that our own intelligence pales when compared to the omniscience of our God. We may think our clever plans are "all that", but God knows the skills we possess are made by him alone and are only worth their full value when used for his purposes! Conceived things are those things that we allow to form in our minds, or imagine in our hearts, that may not even be true or accurate. They can be tainted by the view of life we have at the moment. We don't even know the motives of our own heart, let alone the motives of another. When we put "faith" in the in the imaginations of our mind, we may be selling ourselves, or another, totally and completely short. Contrived thoughts are unreliable - they are devised without much attention to outcome. Our thoughts, at best, are "one-sided" - they need the filtering of the Holy Spirit so they become balanced, reliable, and trustworthy.

Our thoughts, as flawed as they are, can be instruments God uses to bless others, but we have to allow them to be energized by God. No matter how creative we are in our own self-thought / self-taught manner, we can never be as clearly thinking as we'd like to be - we need God's help to keep clarity in our thoughts and mixed motives out of our actions. Just sayin!

What's your modus operandi?

In charge - has the thought ever occurred to you to consider carefully who might just be "in charge" of your life?  Most of us would say we believe God is in charge of our lives - and we'd be correct in this assumption.  Yet, most of us live as though WE were in charge of our lives!  We don't consult God with our decisions - we make them and then look to him to "back us up" with those decisions.  We get ourselves into "binds" and expect him to bail us out.  At those moments when we are struggling to hold our head above water, we even get to thinking God may have just abandoned us.  Maybe the better perspective for us to have is not that he abandoned us, but that we totally missed out on the fact of his watchful protection over our lives even when WE insisted on being "in charge".  After wallowing for a while in our self-pity because we recognize our "plans" were not all that good, we find ourselves a little "exposed" by our folly, don't we?  Exposure often results in us wanting to "cover up" - we don't want to honestly admit the mess we have made of things, but it is hard not to!

God is in charge of human life, watching and examining us inside and out. We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives.  Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance.  (Proverbs 20:27; 21:2-3 MSG)

God has an amazing way of penetrating our hearts.  It is like he has a super-high powered spotlight which just gets into the corners of what we'd rather not admit is there.  The "power" of this "spotlight" actually allows discovery where there is resistance.  This is what "penetration" means - something exerts enough force or strength so as to overcome the resistance it faces. God has a way of doing exactly that - not settling for a glossing over of our inner character just because we are resistant to change.  In fact, God not only "sees into" us - he sees "through us".  This is a good thing since so many of us still like to hide behind our "masks" thinking no one will ever be able to uncover the reality of our shame, guilt, or pride if we do.

Motives are the things which actually cause us to act a certain way.  When our motives are not self-serving, we see the actions as being sacrificial and directed toward the best for another.  When we see our motives are inward directed, we might just see all the actions as a little self-seeking or selfish in nature - the actions serve to satisfy self.  This is why God needs a spotlight - to expose the motives which influence or direct our actions.  Motives are "internal" and there is the need to "unmask" them in order to really get at the heart of what makes us act as we do.

We cannot escape his examination - because without it, he cannot get at what motivates us to act as we do.  Until he gets past our rebellious "crust", he cannot impact our inner character.  The "penetrating" effect of his "light" may not be all that "enjoyable" at times - but it is totally necessary if we are ever to actually recognize his desire to be "in control" of our lives.  When we finally admit we have been in charge - he is free to begin to take control.  He moves from just "bailing us out" all the time to actually keeping us out of the position of being over our heads in stuff in the first place!

When we are young, we rely a lot upon our strength.  When we begin to get a little older, we rely not so much upon our strength as we do upon our wisdom. We have learned a few lessons along the way which help us to "work smarter" instead of "work harder".  I think this is also true in the spiritual sense - we don't rely so much upon our strength to get things done as we do upon the wisdom he gives.  This is when we know we are actually allowing the walls of resistance to his governance of our lives to come down - giving him control.

We may think our ways are right, but God is the best judge of this, not us. We see things with "blinders" on - only allowing a cursory view of what is immediately in front of us.  God has a way of seeing things without the blinders - he knows the peripheral effect of every action and has the greatest opportunity to help us avoid the hazards of what might actually do us harm. There are many who think this Christian walk is about a lifetime of bringing God sacrifices - what it is we DO for him.  Truth is, it is about a lifetime of what God DOES for us, because even the purity of our heart and motives is all because he intervenes to DO the clean up for us!

Our mode of operation is to make hasty decisions - not thought out well, kind of self-centered, and a little bit too close to the edge.  God's mode of operation is to help us learn to wait on his movements - taking the time to plan well, moving beyond our secret rebellion of always wanting to be in control, and then moving further away from the edge and more to the center of where he wants to keep us - right next to his heart.  Just sayin!

A truly "plumb" heart

Nothing is more elusive than the approval of man.  Try as we might, we often fall short of what another expects of us - leaving us feeling like we haven't measured up and them experiencing disappointment.  Since it is so elusive, why do we spend so much time trying to "measure up" to some other man or woman's approval?  The approval of another is kind of like a well disguised snare in the path - we get caught up in it without even noticing we were headed in that direction!   The pathway to man's approval is pretty demanding, though.  It demands our time - often time we don't have to give. It demands our attention - often attention which is diverted from something which also requires our attention, but which will go without while we pursue something completely opposite.  It demands our energies - sucking us dry of that which really would be best utilized on a task designed by God for us.

To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.  (Psalm 18:25-26 NIV)

Most of the time, we can regroup from our time being squandered, our attentions a little distracted, or our energies a little depleted.  What we have a greater difficulty with is when our desire to please others begins to change our morals, or shape our convictions of heart to theirs.  Given enough time, the demands of others in our lives will do just this if we aren't "wise" to the "warping" of our convictions.  Wood doesn't warp overnight - as it dries, it curls right up and looses its straight or even surface.  The same is true with our heart convictions - they don't just change overnight because someone makes demands of us - they change little by little until we one day recognize they are no longer "plumb".

God is at work in our lives - all circumstances and encounters are an opportunity for him to shine through us.  Even the demands of another can be his tools to clarify our desires, focus our attention, and determine the course of our heart.  If you haven't figured this out yet, then here's the truth about how God works - he looks for our willingness, then he "checks" it with our choices.  He allows circumstances and people in our lives which will help us to clarify our choices.  If we are constantly following the whim and fancy of the one who makes the external demands of us, we are missing out on the opportunities to do what God requests of us.  God is gracious - others demand, he requests.  He is looking for willingness - then he works on our choices.

Yesterday, we spoke about a pure heart - one which is free of all the clutter that gets in the way of pursuing what God intends.  Now, think about that in light of what we read today.  A pure heart is aware that God is at work in their lives - even through the demanding people!  The kingdom of God (the dominion of his power) is within us.  It affects those around us when we remain true to that "reign".  A pure heart is not affected by the multitude of demands people are making - it remains consistently at ease and resists the pull to be twisted out of "plumb".  When we get our minds out of the muddle of the demands of another, we can begin to wrap our hearts around the settled peace of the reign of Christ within.

A word of caution:  Purity of heart is maintained easiest when we are partnered with those of similar heart desire.  What we fail to recognize many times is the distance between what our heart tells us and what our spirit requires of us.  Heart may aim to please all people - sending us into a spiral of frenzied task-driven performance.  A pure heart aims to please just one - Christ alone.  What we find in this pursuit is the ability to balance what we "do" for others with what God asks us to "be" in him.  "Treasure" is a matter of choice.  I saw this in the antique shops I visited recently.  The price tag on many items was out of this world and definitely not "reasonable" in my mind. Yet, many will pay the price because they have defined the item as a "treasure" they will pay any amount to attain.  Truthfully, there is but one treasure which impacts our heart, purifies our motives, and settles our minds - it is the treasure of drawing near to the heart of Christ.

If you are caught up in the frenzy of pleasing others, finding yourself pulled a little "out of plumb", and just circling in a holding pattern as it comes to your ability to move on, maybe it is time to do a little "detachment" from the demands which have pulled you this direction.  Just sayin!