What's Your Motivation?

713 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Sa 24:1-3, “Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people." 3 And Joab said to the king, "Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?" (2 Sam 24:1-3) Great question Joab? What's your motivation David? We would do well to ask ourselves that same question before we take action in our own day to day business. A quick test of all our actions is to ask ourselves, “Will my actions be pleasing to God? Many times we opt for pleasing ourselves (men) rather than God: Ga 1:10 says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Jesus said in Lu 16:15, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” A good place to start in determining whether our actions are pleasing to God is to get out a Bible Concordance and look up the words, “abomination” and “hate.” For instance in Pr 6:16-19, we read, “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. This is not the complete list of things that God hates, there are many more. God hates divorce. (Mal 2:16) Sexual sin is also displeasing to Him and HE urges us to distance ourselves from it: Flee sexual immorality. (1 Cor 6:18) Bottom line God is not pleased with sin. Bottom line we are all guilty of these things. What to do? Remember that there is no sin that Jesus did not pay for on the cross, then trusting in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, confess those sins, agree with god that they are sins and receive His forgiveness: 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.