Motives Matter

A grassfire threatens several homes nearby. The fire truck arrives, lights flashing and siren blaring, with four firemen onboard, including the driver. The worried homeowners watch as the fire truck charges toward the fire, not stopping at the edge of the blaze but driving into the middle of the inferno! All the firemen jump out and start attacking the fire that’s all around them. They soon have it put out. The homeowners rush up to them, praising them for their bravery.

The fire truck driver shakes his head and says, “There was no bravery involved. The fire truck’s brakes failed, that’s why we ended up in the middle of the fire. We were fighting for our lives.”

This fictitious story is a good example of how motives aren’t always what they appear to be. We can do the right thing but for less than the best reasons, even for a bad or wrong reason.

It could be argued that the motive doesn’t matter much, as long as you’re doing what’s right. Really? Motives matter, in pastoral ministry as much, if not more, than in any other field of endeavor. Motives matter for several reasons.

Wrong motives won’t keep us motivated. If we do what’s right because we want attention or some kind of reward, we’re likely to stop doing what’s right when no one is watching, praises us, or pays us. This certainly applies in pastoral ministry. We aren’t always going to receive that affirmation we’d like. When we do receive affirmation we need to take it with a grain of salt, not allowing ourselves to become addicted to it. A good test is to ask ourselves if we’re willing to do what’s right, and keep on doing it, even when no one is looking, when no one will find out about our good deed, or when it’s not going to be popular.

Wrong motives also are almost always eventually exposed. When people get to know us better they can see through us, to our true motives. We can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Our parishoners, especially those close to us in leadership, will see us for who we really are.

Wrong motives also distance us from God. We may fool people and even ourselves but not God. God knows our heart, He knows our true motives every time. God cares about our heart. We preach it; we just need to believe it enough to apply it to our own hearts.

It’s not easy having the right motives. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’ve done much of anything with 100% pure motives, including pastoring for nearly forty years.

So, what to do about the reality that we don’t always act out of pure motives? A big step is to realize the importance of having the right motives, that they give us integrity and result in sincerity, helping to make us a person of good character.

By the way, trying to judge someone else’s motives is never wise and almost always hurts relationships. We have enough trouble identifying our own motives, let alone those of someone else! The late president Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Never question another man’s motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives.”

Moving toward the right motives in all we say or do can seem an impossible task. This is why it’s also important to ask for the good Lord’s help. He dwells within our innermost being and can help transform our motives.

When it comes to our ministry we should ask ourselves if our heart is in the right place. That’s because motives matter!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).