Real Motives

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Fill my consciousness constantly and complete Your joy in me as I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: Jeremiah 15:19 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” 

Verse of the day: Romans 12:4-5

4 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 

Daily reading:  Psalm 119:89-176 1 Corinthians 8

Real Motives

Down deep the natural man in all of us believers wants to be accepted just like the majority of the world. So, when we speak the same truth from love that Jesus speaks in scripture, much of the world is offended. The apostles dealt with these feelings.

Jesus said, 11 A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.” Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” (We have no control on how our message is accepted but in love, we know we must speak the truth.)

Then, in verse 18 Jesus says, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.”(Matthew 15)

Our memory verse says, “If you speak what is precious...you shall be as My mouth.” If the Lord is precious to us, we will speak His truth and pray that hearts will be open to accept His message and depend on His grace to accept the outcome.

Jesus said in Matthew 10, “22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

In Matthew 15:21 it says, “And Jesus went away from there.” He did not have time to let rejection and hate slow Him down.

The response of the ‘loved one’, sometimes the hater, cannot change the fact that the love of Christ in your heart has real actions and real motives.

Through you, they are ‘being’ loved whether they ‘feel’ it or not.

Here’s the rub-our love comes from what we treasure. If we treasure something in the world more than God, our motive is not pure-it is not love from God’s heart. Tell God the truth. Tell Him you want to love and treasure Him above all else. If this is not what you want-tell Him you want to want it.

...because He loves you, He will do it…

Father in Heaven,

Help me treasure Your name above all else. Help me love your kingdom. Give me desire to live by Your will. Forgive me for not treasuring You above all. Lead me away from false feelings.

Lover of our souls for eternity,

In Christ’s name,

Amen