For God’s Sake

^{by: carole l. haines}

¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing; ¹⁵ so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life. (Philippians 2: 14-16 NASB)

Do all things without grumbling and complaining. Hmmmmmmm! That’s quite the task, isn’t it?  Can any of us really say that we do this? And yet, there it is, right in Scripture.  How can this be possible?  Well, I was convicted about this challenge this morning, as I read the verse of the day in the context of its entire chapter.  And I wondered the same thing myself. “Lord, how can I possibly learn to do this? How do I even begin to remember not to complain or grumble? It’s such a knee-jerk response sometimes.”
I always apologize when I mess up, but I sure would like to get on the front end of this one, more often than I do.  You know, “Kill it, before it grows,” so to speak.  God brought to my mind that it is not really a motivation to just, try to do-OR-not do something.  It is the “Why?” of it all, that makes the difference.  In the above verse we can see a very big, “WHY?”  Let’s break it down.

·    So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent

·    Children of God

·    Above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation

·    Among whom you appear as lights in the world

·    Holding fast the Word of Life

Wow! Now that’s a lot of motivation.  I want to be all those things, do all those things. But I can’t do them for myself, or even for the sake of those I am trying to share the Gospel with.  The primary motivation for all we do in Christ, needs to be Christ Himself, for God’s sake. This is what needs to motivate us, and really, it’s the only pure motivation there is.  

So, Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5 NASB) I want to see God, so Lord purify my heart.  I want to see You, and I want all I do to be for You, For God’s sake.  Amen