The Many Motives We Have

    "Our motives, are mixed, at best" says C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Ministries. I had never heard that before, neither had I ever thought about it until then.
   I believe he was referencing how easy it is to preach a message and have different motives while doing so. But I believe this applies to every person who has come to Christ and trusted in Him for salvation.
   What do I mean by this, and why am I writing a blog on it? The answer is simply because many of us counsel people or have difficult relationships with our children or other family members, and we want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.
  We can become so easily discouraged when we are working with someone, and we know, usually because of past experiences, that the person we are dealing with is manipulating, or trying to use us in some way. This problem is very common in families and relationships in the church and workplace.
  We have this relationship with a person, and the person has tried to rip us off or deceive us in some way, so we assume that the person will always hate us or try to use us. But here is where we have to be careful, because many times, people have more than one motive in what they are trying to do. Let me give an example.
   Years ago, I worked in a place where there were mostly young women. I was nineteen at the time, and God was working in my heart through the process of sanctification. I was being changed and loved sharing the Gospel with others (as best as I knew how). There was a coworker who was a sixteen year old girl who must have dropped out of school. Her mom had been married a few times but at that time, she was single, I believe. The girl seemed to live in an unreal world. She ended up meeting a guy and two weeks later married him. There were times when this young woman would ask a question concerning the Gospel. Sometimes, I would give her a tract and she seemed interested. But some times, I would find the tract in the garbage! Disappointing. But, how do I know that God wasn't working in her heart? I don't. I would tend to believe that she would just stay in ignorance forever because I would find a tract in the garbage or she would make a stupid decision like marrying someone she just met. I would write people like this off. I was assuming that her only motive was to be deceptive, but now I know that deceptive people can even have other motives for what they do, and sometimes, those motives are good ones.
   The reason for mixed motives in us is simple: We were created in God's image and the human race was plunged into sin and darkness with the fall. We are a fallen race of people, yet still bear the image of God, although marred.
  One more set of examples here. David Wilkerson, who wrote 'The Cross and the Switchblade' lived a life of faith that ended up bearing good fruit. He dealt with cruel, deceptive people who had no hope of the Gospel. In a sense, he entrusted himself to these people and showed love to them. He believed in faith that God was going to save them. I know what I would be guilty of in this kind of situation. I would think that if God were going to save these people, then He can reach them without me. If they really want to get saved, they can come to Christ by God working in their hearts. If I saw manipulation in them, or their trying to trick me, I would say goodbye to them. Not David Wilkerson. He loved people and saw past their manipulation. This is an encouragement to me.
   We have gone downtown to serve food and share the Gospel with the homeless, and we see a lot of manipulation. One guy that went down there got his wallet stolen. We were warned to not bring wallets or purses with us because they know who is new and naive, and they will try to take advantage of people. Is that a good reason to not go back there again? Of course not! We don't bring money with us, nor do we try to make something happen that can't happen (like provide a place for them to live). These people need to hear the Gospel and come to Christ. Only then will they have a new heart with new desires. And as time goes on, they will become less and less manipulative and deceitful.
  Don't let people's bad motives stop you from loving them! You might be the only Gospel message and hope that they will ever see. God can save anyone, even that sneaky relative you have. So, be patient with people and don't give up on them. And don't forget to pray for that person. Only eternity will reveal the impact of our love and patience with people. We will be surprised on That Day of those who came to Christ, because we didn't give up on them.