Christopher Mavor: We Must Examine Our Motives (Proverbs 16:2)

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Christopher Mavor: We Must Examine Our Motives (Proverbs 16:2)

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwb-105_9_VIDEO

 

Published 21 July 2023

 

TRANSCRIPT: Christopher Mavor: We Must Examine Our Motives (Proverbs 16:2)

Spoiler

We Must Examine Our Motives (Proverbs 16:2)

Christopher Mavor

Helper to the Service Committee

As our commenters bring out, our focus today is on something that is actually very private and perhaps very sensitive, and that is our motives. Motives dwell deep within our figurative hearts. They really are described as “the impelling force behind our conduct” and decision-making. But today, our text puts us on alert about these motives, and we need to have Jehovah’s viewpoint of them.

Let’s consider the full scripture. Open your Bibles, please, to Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 2. We’re alerted to this because, as we’ve already discussed, motives are an impelling force. They can help us do what is right in God’s eyes, but they also can deceive us into doing what is wrong, and notice what the Bible says about this; Proverbs 16:2 says: “All of man’s ways seem right to him, but Jehovah examines the motives.”

Interesting. We could set a very good goal for ourselves — be involved in what appears to be very good things - but if, as the Bible says, our ways or our thoughts may appear good but Jehovah examines them and he sees that our thoughts, or sorry, our motives are not pure, or not in total harmony with his will, well, we could meet up with his disapproval and even sharp judgment.

How, then, can we make sure that our motives are pure and that they are pleasing to Jehovah God? In order to understand that, we have to understand our hearts because this is where our motives reside — in our figurative hearts. An important aspect of our hearts is brought out for us in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9. Remember, it says there that “the heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?”

You see, our imperfect figurative hearts are inherently selfish. It thinks of only one thing, and that is itself. And our hearts could deceive us into justifying errors on our part or even justifying self-seeking actions, using even Jehovah’s service for our own personal benefit. Now, this is a dangerous thing.

A case in point is brought out for us. If you look at the cross-reference to this scripture at 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 13 and 14 — in fact, let’s open our Bibles to that portion of the scripture. It’s the account of King Saul, and Jehovah God gave King Saul a very definite directions on what he wanted him to do, that is completely annihilate the Amalekites from the greatest to the least of them. He was to get rid of them. Now, if we look at verses 5 through 7, we see that Saul took on this assignment, and he was doing rather well. He was doing exactly what Jehovah had told him to do, and that is annihilate the Amalekites. But in verse 9, we see something went wrong — something changed. In verse 9, it says: “However, Saul and the people spared Agag" - who was the king - "and the best of the flock, the herd, the fattened animals, the rams, and all that was good. They did not want to devote them to destruction. But all the goods that were worthless and unwanted, these they devoted to destruction.”

So we see something happened here. Saul developed, or had, his motives for one point only: using Jehovah’s service — this commission — to do what? To glorify himself, to benefit himself. In fact, if you look in verse 12, he even went so far as to go to Carmel and erected a monument to himself — glorifying this great victory that he performed over the Amalekites, bringing King Agag back with him, as perhaps a trophy, to show everyone that he dominated this nation, got rid of them, and enriched himself by these beautiful animals that would no doubt benefit the herds that they had.

Well, was Jehovah fooled by this? Obviously not. Jehovah saw right through it. He saw right to the core of the matter that Saul’s motives were not pure. And so when he sent Samuel to the camp, he told Samuel, tell him he has basically been condemned, ripping the rulership away from him, and no longer was he pleasing to Jehovah God. Saul, though, before he heard this denunciation from Jehovah, thought he was still in good stead with God, and putting on a big show of being a servant of God, a faithful man. He said in verse 13: “May Jehovah bless you" - when he saw Samuel - "I have carried out the word of Jehovah.” And Samuel set him straight: ‘No you didn’t. You were lying. You were seeking your own glory and not Jehovah’s glory.’

Well, what can we learn from this account? It’s a very good account to have in mind because it’s a sharp contrast, or an acute example, of what we’re discussing here today about motives. We see that Saul’s motives were not pure. He was not putting Jehovah first in his life, and, in fact, his impure motives moved him to an unfaithful course with God, and meeting up with his strong judgment against him.

How can we avoid making such a terrible mistake and succumb to perhaps impure reasonings or motives that we might have in our hearts? How can ‘we even know it’ — as the Bible says — that it’s there? Well, Jehovah does help us read our motives and understand what’s going on. At Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12, we can see he, that is Jehovah, has given us a marvellous tool to do that. It says: “For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

So it’s no wonder that we are given strong admonition from the faithful slave to read God’s Word, the Bible, every day because it is by means of this amazing tool that can pierce through and slice through the hard shell of our figurative, imperfect hearts to reveal what's really there. And then to do something about it.

You see, as we learned in this past week’s Watchtower [The Watchtower March 2021, pages 14 to 16: "How to Gain Strength From the Scriptures"]. What a wonderful article it was! And what beautiful guidance it gave us about how to gain strength from God’s Word but also how to accomplish this very difficult assignment, if you will, of knowing what’s in our hearts! Here we are told that before we read God’s Word, that we should [one] pray, ask Jehovah’s spirit to guide and direct us, and then after reading it, [two] imagine that we are there in the very account that we’re reading — in the shoes of the ones that we’re talking about. [three] Meditate on these things. Understand what is truly going on in our hearts. How does this information apply to me personally? And then [four] apply what we learn. And you see, by doing that, well, then we can not only reveal what’s going on inside of our hearts but then we can take steps to correct our motives if they need correcting.

Perhaps as young brothers, we desire to reach out for service as a privilege in the congregation. and it’s a wonderful thing to reach out to be a ministerial servant, to be an elder. But what are the true motives? Why do we want this assignment? Well, this is where following this four-step procedure that we learned can help. Why not read all the qualifications that a ministerial servant or an elder should have? Meditate upon them. Apply these things into our life and ask ourselves: ‘Why do I really want to be a servant in the congregation? ‘Is it to glorify myself, to promote myself, or to actually do the work?’ Imagine ourselves being Timothy or Paul or other faithful men mentioned in the Bible who expended themselves, poured themselves out on behalf of God’s people and in doing Jehovah’s will, even perhaps being looked down upon both by those in the congregation as well as on the outside. Are we willing to do that?

Actually, all of us who desire theocratic assignments should go through this kind of procedure to make sure that our hearts — our motives, really — are in harmony with Jehovah’s will for this assignment as well as what he wants for us. Doing this, will perhaps, maybe find that we may be harbouring a Saul-like motive and perhaps wanting to use Jehovah’s service for self-interests and to promote ourselves.

I think it is interesting several years ago back in 2016 at the “Remain Loyal to Jehovah” convention — perhaps you recall the symposium “Avoid What Erodes Loyalty” — and there it gives the experience of an elder who was taking the lead, how he was revealed. [Video: “Avoid What Erodes Loyalty - Pride”] His motives were revealed by some counsel that an elder had given him, and he saw that he just wasn’t responding correctly.

So, what did he do? He prayed to Jehovah, and then he took on assignments in the congregation that no one ever saw, working after hours, perhaps when no one was at the Kingdom Hall, doing things that would not put him in the limelight. Yet, they where necessary work — work that needed to be done to carry out God’s will and purpose. This eventually changed his heart. And as we understand from that video and that brother in the basement taking the lead with the brothers there, it actually saved his life to make these changes and helped. And Jehovah used him to appropriately shepherd the flock during the great tribulation. Well, that’s a good example for us. That’s what we want to do, and we can.

 

 

Bro Mavor refers to a video that was shown at the 2016 Convention, as below:

 

Avoid What Erodes Loyalty - Pride

 

Sunday 9.40am Symposium at the 2016 “Remain Loyal to Jehovah” Convention

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODBiblePrinciples/pub-mwbv_201708_4_VIDEO

 

TRANSCRIPT: Avoid What Erodes Loyalty - Pride

Spoiler

[During the great tribulation, while sheltering/hiding in a basement of a house, a small group of brothers and sisters, including the elder, Robert Brown, are discussing their experiences in maintaining loyalty to Jehovah]

Robert Brown: What an experience! That’s why loyalty to Jehovah has been so important.

Darren: That is so true, Brother Brown. How about you? Has your loyalty ever been tested?

Robert Brown: Oh, yeah, I remember. It was years ago, and an elder came to give me counsel after a talk, and let’s just say I was not expecting ...

[Flashback: Having just arrived back home from the midweek meeting, Robert Brown, and his wife Karen, are in the kitchen having a coffee] Karen Brown: You were really quiet the whole way home. Is everything all right? Robert Brown: Yeah, I’m fine. Karen Brown: What is on your mind? Robert Brown: I can’t believe the nerve that Ben has. Karen Brown: Ben? Robert Brown: Yeah, Ben. He gave me counsel about that talk that I gave last week. Karen Brown: Really? What did he say? Robert Brown: I don’t know. Something like I didn’t use enough scriptures. Whatever. I mean, it was hard to listen. You know, I’ve been an elder longer than he has, and he comes up to me and gives me counsel about my teaching! Karen Brown: Please tell me you didn’t argue with him. Robert Brown: No, of course not. But it wasn’t easy. I thanked him and said something like, ‘I’ll give it careful thought, and apply what you said.’ Karen Brown: So you did the right thing. Robert Brown: Yes, but did I really? I took the counsel, but I don’t like my attitude. I let pride get in the way of another elder giving me counsel just because I’ve been an elder longer. Karen Brown: So, what are you going to do about it? Robert Brown: Pray, I mean, that’s what I should do. And then go to Ben and ask him to explain what I didn’t give him a chance to explain.

Darren: Wow! Brother Brown, I can’t picture you reacting that way to counsel. Let alone getting counsel!

Robert Brown: That was the problem; neither could I. If I was going to remain loyal to Jehovah, I needed an attitude adjustment.

Darren: So, what did you do?

Robert Brown: I prayed, and I asked if I could really conduct myself as a lesser one. I went back to Ben and asked him to give me the counsel that he had prepared for me. I volunteered for assignments that I hadn’t done for a while. You know, things that we do that go unnoticed. And little by little, my attitude improved.

[Robert Brown is shown talking to Ben in the Kingdom Hall. Then Brother Brown is shown cleaning the wash basins in the Kingdom Hall toilets, replacing a light bulb at the Hall, and doing the literature inventory]

Robert Brown: After that, I felt closer to Jehovah. Seeing the need for more humility, well, was humbling.

Darren: I never realised, but it seems like everyone has had lessons to learn along the way.

Robert Brown: Believe me, I am still learning. If I hadn’t changed back then with Jehovah’s help, oh, things would be so different today.

 

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For those wishing to print out both the transcripts - below is a PDF, formatted to be printed as an A5 booklet using A4 paper, or simply full-size on A4 paper, if you like a larger text size

 

We Must Examine Our Motives.pdf