Study 37 – Straw or Gold?

Christians often embrace modern attitudes that undermine individual significance and personal responsibility. There you are at the conclusion of a church service congratulating the keyboard player on how well he performed. He looks at you and replies, 'Oh, it wasn't me. It was the Lord.' You might feel like commenting, 'I think I heard one or two wrong notes. Who played those?' Or you might be tempted to add, 'Actually, it wasn't that good!' To avoid pride people try to embrace anonymity.

The deacons of some churches often like to pray for the speaker before he preaches. They get together with him twenty minutes before the service and pray, 'Lord, hide the preacher. We want to see Jesus only.' A preacher friend of mine once commented, 'Next time that happens to me I'll open with prayer, duck down under the pulpit and see how well they do without me!'

A more recent and increasingly popular phrase is this: 'God is seeking a faceless army'. Here again is the hint that God puts a high value on anonymity. But this isn't true. We aren't anonymous or unaccountable. God loves every face, every individual that he's called – illustrated by the fact that our Bibles are littered with pages filled with almost unpronounceable names! Surely God would spare us the embarrassment of trying to pronounce these endless lists if all he wanted was a 'faceless army'. Each individual matters to him and each one is thoroughly accountable to him. You aren't called to anonymity but to significant accountability!

It's very important that you take seriously your call to serve the living God and that you will ultimately give a thorough and detailed account to him of all you've done. Your labours must be labours of love and your works must be works of faith. If your motives aren't pure they'll be burned up and you'll suffer loss.

A woman from your church is in hospital. One day you think, 'Gosh, Mary will be coming out of hospital soon and I haven't visited her. I really ought to go and see her.' Immediately you hear yourself using the words, 'I ought' or 'I should' beware of your motivation. Before you visit Mary you need to stand back and speak to God about your idea. He might say, 'You're too busy and need to spend more time with your family. It's not necessary for you to visit her.' At this point you tell yourself that you won't go and will be thoroughly secure in that decision.

On the other hand, God might speak to you very differently, challenging you about your motivation. 'You don't really care about Mary at all,' he says. 'You're more worried about what she'll think if you don't visit her. You're focusing on your reputation while I'm concerned for a person. She's anxious about her impending operation and needs reassurance. I'm looking for someone who'll express my compassion to her.' Immediately you repent of your selfishness and ask for God's forgiveness. You pray for Mary and ask God to be with you as you visit and encourage her.

The love of God will never enter that hospital ward through a conscience-driven Christian who's merely doing his or her duty. In reality Mary will probably detect the truth! You'll experience the barrenness of an unfruitful activity and the angels will look on, bored and certain that this endeavour will never survive the fire test. God will reveal the secret motives of your heart, you'll suffer loss and there'll be no reward.

To Meditate On

God sees the motives behind the actions.

'The LORD searches every heart and understands ever motive behind the thoughts' (1 Chron. 28:9).

'All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD' (Prov. 16:2).

'When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures' (Jas. 4:3).

Food For Thought

READ Acts 4:36,37 and Acts 5:1-11

What do you think were the motives of:

1. Barnabas?
2. Ananias?
3. Sapphira?

Do you think that Ananias and Sapphira went to heaven? Why / Why not?

To Do

PRAY for someone you know who's going through difficulties at the moment.

Why not do something kind for him / her?

Be Inspired

'The one whose mind is given to Christ is earnest in small things as in great, knowing that an account must be given even for an idle word.'
Jerome (331-420)