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Yesterday, in my church’s Bible study on Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God, we heard Tim Keller (on DVD) talk about how God delivers us, not just from our sins, but also from our motivations for righteousness—which can alienate us from God. If we are rooting our self-worth in our own good deeds, then that can take us away from sharing the heart of the father, as occurred when the prodigal son did not care about his father’s joy at the prodigal son’s return.
Someone in the group commented that we should ask ourselves what our motivation is for doing a good deed: is it to love God, or to glorify ourselves, or something else? It was interesting for me later that night to encounter a similar concept in a devotional I’m reading, Wisdom from the Bible: Daily Thoughts from the Proverbs, by Dan and Nancy Dick. The September 21 entry talks about a man going to St. Peter at the pearly gates, saying he’s ready for heaven because he gave to the poor, went to church, never cheated on his wife, and prayed twice a day. St. Peter responds that, actually, the man got tax deductions, wanted others’ approval, feared he’d get caught if he committed adultery, was allergic to alcohol, and only said grace before meals. The man then replies that he was hoping St. Peter wouldn’t know the difference! The devotional then goes on to say, “Not only are our actions important, but our reasons for them are important too.”
In my opinion, what matters is what one does with the insight that our motivations are important. If I take that to mean that I should never do a good deed unless my motivation is right, then that’s wrong, for I think the rabbis make sense when they say that we should do good even when our motivation is wrong, and that, hopefully, doing the good deed will lead us to have the right motivation. If the idea is that doing good deeds out of a wrong motivation may show that I’m not truly saved and am going to hell—since I’m trying to be my own Savior rather than trusting in God’s love in Jesus Christ—then the insight is not helpful to me there either, for nobody does good deeds out of a perfect motivation. Why should I add stress on myself for being imperfect? And why should I believe that God is out to play “Gotcha!” with me, showing me why I stink even when I do good things? But if the idea is that doing good deeds out of a wrong motivation alienates me from God—from intimacy with God and identification with how a loving God sees the world—then that is an incentive for me to try to have the right attitude. It’s not so much that God will torture me forever if my motives don’t consistently measure up to his standard. It’s rather that God wants for me to be like him—loving—and my motives may hinder me from that.
On a related note, the September 22 devotional in Wisdom from the Bible somewhat turned me off as well, for it contrasted a wealthy woman who gave to charity, and another woman who joined a mission team and actively worked and fought to improve people’s living conditions. The devotional said that the latter woman did better than the rich woman by giving of herself. The devotional then says, “We are avoiding judgment by giving everything we have to the service of God.” I hope this is not implying that people like the rich woman who gave to charity are going to hell. Perhaps it is referring to the judgment of believers, in which God judges people who are already saved according to their works, and hell is not a consideration in this judgment (according to those who believe in a judgment of believers). But, even then, why would God judge people for not being missionaries (or giving of themselves)? Being a missionary may be admirable, and, sure, I’d be content with missionaries receiving more rewards than me in heaven. But, heck, not everyone is cut out for missionary work! Moreover, what’s wrong with rich people giving to charity? The Bible often praises giving alms (or something) to the poor. Why make perfection the enemy of the good? What does that accomplish?
