Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in God.  Psalm 4:5

As a little girl, I remember hearing my parents say, “Now, we want you to be a good girl at our friend’s house!”  Sometimes, that meant that their reputation was on the line and I might embarrass them. I was often compliant because I feared the punishment.

From the beginning, we have acted religiously to distract ourselves from our own sin.  It didn’t work.  Down deep, we knew that we were flawed.  And down deep, we also feared that God was not fooled.  Underneath all that striving was the shame of our sinful nature.

Is it possible for an unbeliever to please God?  I think of all the selfless acts that arise in the worst of times.  People offer their lives to save another.  They give generously to charities.  They love their families and sacrifice for their well-being.  But the only acts that please God are the ones that are done with Him at the center of our motivation. He must be the point of my good deeds – not me.

So, if unbelievers can’t please God, does this mean that believers will automatically get it right?  No. So much of what we do can be selfishly motivated.

By God’s grace, our motives get cleaned up.  We mature just as we did in our earliest years.  I’m thinking about what happened as I got older and left grade school behind. My motivation for doing the right things began to change.  My love for my parents grew, and I wanted to honor them.

I want to love God like that. And I know it will be genuine when born out of intimacy and amazement.

Show me where my motives lie.  Amen