But Motives Are Weighed by The Lord

             All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

When I was too young to remember it, my parents abandoned me. It was only for a couple of days, and the hospital where they took me for tests basically demanded it, but I didn’t understand all that. When I was in college, I struggled with over-the-top responses to rejection/abandonment. It was years before I worked through the situation, and I still watch for signs of that response. It might not be surprising, then, that when my father needed help, I felt I had to shoulder the burden myself, because I could not abandon him.

I’m not telling you this for pity or your understanding of me. I’m sharing it because things in our lives influence future choices even when we don’t remember them. And what we believe we do today out of love may not be love so much as a need on our part. I had to be the dutiful daughter. But was it out of love for my father, or was it to meet some need I had? Or a mixture? It’s not always as simple as we like to think, and we are often not nearly as pure as we wish to believe.

Another example. When COVID hit and some people decided they had the right to be health bullies who could dictate to us the wearing of  masks and the acceptance of vaccines, I very quickly developed a slogan “You aren’t my parent, my master, or my God…” Was the problem more what they were doing? Or was it more my pride? I like think they were the problem, while they are absolutely sure that my pride is the issue.

A third example. I go to the kitchen for a snack. Is it really because I’m hungry, because it’s the time when I get my snack, or because I’m bored, frustrated, or lonely?

Often, when we read about God weighing our motives, we’re offended because we think our motives are pure. Perhaps more importantly, we don’t have the time or the emotional fortitude to examine every motive for everything we do. If we tried, we’d really need psychiatric assistance. As it is, we can coast along, comfortable in our self-assurance that what we’re doing is for all the right reasons.

I’ve heard it said that God doesn’t reveal Himself or us to us all at once because we couldn’t handle either. Instead, we conquer the “promised land” of our souls a little at a time. But all the while, we must keep in mind what God and Pogo have told us: