Every day, this topic has been challenging my thought and spiritual life. Why do I want to write? Why do I want to communicate to people? Why do I make the decisions that I do? These questions have been constantly ringing in my mind throughout the past few days. I really believe that rather than looking at what exactly we do, God is delving into our character. He is focusing in on our heart behind what we do.
I had an extremely challenging conversation with my friend Blake Odgers. We talked in-depth about the motive behind our desires. Do we write and communicate just to be heard or read? Or are we legitimately wanting God to invade our creations, that the world may see the beauty of our Savior? I think that even in our sometimes selfish ambitions, God is still weaving His purpose with our desires. On the other end of the spectrum though, we need to be constantly reminded of our brokenness and how replaceable we are. As we talked more, it became more and more clear that yes, we are supposed to be reminded of our brokenness that we may not exalt ourselves over Christ, but also, we cannot exalt our brokenness over the astounding grace of Jesus.
Our motive for doing “Christian things” can even be rooted in selfishness. That is just real life. Every day, we need to ask God to align our motives with His motives. We too cannot get so caught in doing things that we forget to be led by God. We need to actively pursue God, not just for our material or inspiration, but that we may lead a life that compliments who we are when we write, or do whatever it is we have a passion for. Our prayer should be, “Father, align my heart with Yours. Help me to see how flawed I am, and that I cannot do this without You”.
Even our most holy endeavors can be skewed by our own will to exceed. That is not a bad thing. It isn’t bad to desire people to read or hear what we’re presenting. However, we cannot be so consumed by the applause of people that we lose sight of pleasing the One who made us. It is a very hard battle, but when we really gain insight that we are broken and can’t brag in our efforts, that is when freedom comes in. Because of Jesus, we are free to fail. We are free to mess up. We just can’t be stuck in the same pattern of those failures. It is only through the power of the cross that we can be sanctified. We need to have that moment of humility every day that our pride would die and that we would solely depend on Jesus to clear our hearts and motives.
I challenge us all to every day get in a place of humility, and ask God to show us how to align our motives with His. That we would spend time to fill up, so that we can pour out the love of Christ to the world. My hope is that we would take this walk seriously, and that whatever we do, we will do to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Much Love,
Ryan W.
