plain and simple? here it is. no funny stories, no comparisons, just the truth.

motives matter. every single motive matters. Jesus is speaking with ‘the crowd’ in mark 7:14-23 and discussing personal cleanliness as it relates to food. everyone was obsessed with appearing clean, but their hearts were morally corrupt. their motives were selfish and shallow, and so their spiritual lives were also selfish, shallow and consequently very empty.

it is the same today as it was then. our motives matter. there is not way around it. our motives, all of them, matter. it is not what goes into the man that makes him unclean. it is what comes out of the man that makes him unclean. you can tell a tree by its fruit. if our motives are God-honoring, then the actions that follow are God-honoring, and therefore our lives will be God-honoring. but if we are selfishly motivated, then our actions will be selfish, and our lives will be selfish. you cannot take a selfish motive and have a God-honoring result.

can God use all situations to show Himself? yes, but that does not mean that we are going to come out of that situation smelling like a rose.

so, plain and simple: either you and I are honoring God with our lives, or we are not. there is no ‘kind-of’ pleasing life. God’s desire is our entire being, so either we are giving Him our whole self, or we are withholding form God what is rightfully His.

i’ll let you make the call on what the results of those choices will be.