Christian Living
Check Your Motives
Back in 1985 there was a song on the secular charts that took the music industry by storm, called “We are the World”. It was a collaboration of some of the biggest names in the business from Ray Charles and Michael Jackson to Bruce Springsteen and Bette Midler. Looking back, I can’t remember the purpose of the benefit or even the lyrics. What I do remember, is reading an interview with the producer Quincy Jones. When asked how he dealt with the personalities and “super stardom” of his all-star group he said that with each instrumental track sent out to the participants he included a note simply stating “Check your Egos at the door”.
That has stuck in my mind, but recently the words have changed and the author of the catchy phrase is no longer Quincy but the Lord. His message to you and I is “Check your motives at the door”.
Webster’s defines motive as “a need or desire that causes a person to act a certain way, operating on will.” Interestingly enough the word “motive” is synonymous with the word “impulsive”.
As Christians, we get so caught up in the “what” that sometimes we neglect the “why”. Even though we may see ourselves as well meaning, what is our true motive? Are we behaving the way we are because we really feel that it is Christ’s will for our lives and that of the church, or is there selfishness behind our actions? One area I see this in today is “claim staking in the body of Christ”. From where we sit, to the positions we hold, we are acting as if we alone own the deed to that property, when most likely God only gave us a temporary building permit.
The church should be the one place where God’s people desire to see the best, even if the best isn’t us for that season. Daniel 2:21 says “ and He changeth the times and the seasons, He removes kings and setteth up kings”. Why then are we so intent on determining who should be in what position and for which season? In the kingdom of God there is so much do to and so few to do it, that we can all have a place to call our own. To make that place, that ministry, everything God wants, by using our gifts and talents until the time we can pass it off to someone else who can use their talents to build and improve upon it. Our whole purpose in the Kingdom should be to work ourselves out of a job so that we can move on towards a higher purpose.
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