Aim for the insides

Companies spend a lot of money trying to figure out what their user's want. Some even decided to start asking them. You can learn a lot by doing that. You can also be mislead. It turns out that there is only a 0.44 correlation between what users say they would do and what they actually do.

We tend to have idealized perspectives about what we would do or even why we do what we do. I'd like to think that...

• ... I teach to help people learn
  ... but maybe I like people praising me
• ... I read the bible each day because I love spending time with God
  ... but maybe I like to be seen as disciplined and spiritual
• ... I share the gospel so people can hear about God's love
  ... but maybe I do it because people expect me to and I know I should

It is probably a mixed bag, but a good way to test what is truly motivating you is to remove the possibility of people knowing you did it. Then check your heart. Are you still as motivated to do it?... Do you do it?

You may notice that my desired motives and alternative motives follow a common theme: love vs pride respectively. I find that they are both effective fuels for motivating action but that the latter (pride) is more readily available in our culture. I have so many good examples of it and have so much practice stoking those fires.

So when I come to God and acknowledge that His ways are right and that I should follow them, then it is really easy to do His work using the world's fuel (pride).

Why does it matter?

The first, and greatest commandment is to love God. He doesn't just want me around because what I can do for Him. He wants a relationship.

Lets say that your spouse made you your favorite dessert from scratch and brought it to you out of the blue. You are naturally excited and surprised so you ask them, "why did you do this for me?" They respond, "ah, well I have a meeting with other husbands/wives this Saturday and they always ask how we have showed love to our husband/wife and I wanted to have something to share."

At best you probably feel used. Suddenly the dessert looses its appeal to you.

Why? Don't you like that dessert? Well yes, but I'm sure you can make it yourself or buy it if all you wanted was it, but what you really wanted was what you thought it communicated: that they loved you.

That is why we see Jesus calling out the widow who gave 2 tiny coins, saying "this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury" (Mark 12:41-44). That isn't spoken like someone who cares about money. It is spoken like someone who cares about motive.

Clean the inside first

Jesus often called out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of His time. Yet people seemed to respect them so maybe it wasn't much more obvious than it is today. One time when He called them out He said:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
- Jesus (Matt. 23:25-26)

The religious leaders were aiming for the wrong thing. Since they were fueled by pride, they worked hard to clean the outside of the cup so that they would receive praise from people. Again, probably a bit more subconscious and less obvious than you are thinking.

Sometimes we can primarily aim for behavior change too, when we look at God's commands and think that all He wants is obedience. We can end up doing all the things He asked except for the most important thing that they are all derived from, which is to love Him (Matt. 22:40).

God's love language isn't obedience, it is love.

At first, you might feel uncomfortable with that. What if people love God but don't obey Him? Jesus said that if you clean the inside then the outside becomes clean also. It turns out that if you love God that you do obey Him.

Application

Now I'm not suggesting you just sit there and wait to care before you do anything. I am saying that we need to raise the bar on obedience. I have not completed obedience till I have done it from the heart!

When God said that He "loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7) the "cheerful" part wasn't optional but we often treat it that way. He doesn't just want "cheerful" and He doesn't just want "giver".

Now here are some things that I have found help with obeying from the heart:

• Renew your mind: Paul said (Romans 12:2) that we need to do this to be transformed (nature) rather than just conformed (behavior). We are constantly inundated with this worlds value system. We need to study, chew on, memorize, meditate, and stew on God's word to get it deep into our soul to change our value system.
• Dwell on His love: John said that we love because He (God) first loved us (1 John 4:19). If love is the root of the law then I need this to truly obey it. Now I'm not just talking about being inspired by a good example. I'm talking about experiencing His love personally so that the deep longing inside of you to be loved is fulfilled and then overflowing toward God and others. Don't just read His word to learn what you should do. Read it to know His love so you can use His fuel to do His work.
• Ask for His help: David asked God to create in him a clean heart after he had sinned (Psalm 51:10). He knew it was something he couldn't do on his own.
• Keep obeying: there are times when you need to step back from service, but in general, keep going but work on your heart as you do. Your heart influences your actions and your actions influence your heart. Sometimes you have to show love to feel love.

Keep going but aim for the insides. God is most glorified not by what we give Him but by how we use what He gives us. Lets focus on using His fuel (love), not just doing His work.