Good day dear listeners and welcome again to overcoming temptations, My name is Oyisi Okatahi. Today our topic is titled “Understand Motive of an Action”.
One secret wise about wise people is that wise people do not only see what people do, they understand why people do it. Motive means the reason for doing something. So wise people always try to find out the reason for an action. For instance if someone buys you a gift, it could be a gift or a bribe depending on the motive. If he buys you a gift because he appreciates you it is really a gift, but if he buys you a gift because he want to influence you to unduly favor him, then it is a bribe. The two actions are the same, what is different is the motive. If someone is killed, one thing the detectives or police want to find out is the motive of the murder, why and who wants the person killed. Will his business partner benefit from his death, will his brother inherit all his property? Is someone else trying to get his position? So they will check to see who will benefit from his death and the person who stands to benefit from his death is usually a key suspect. It is not only the police that look at motive in any matter, God looks at the motive, even above the actions. When Prophet Samuel was trying to anoint one of the Sons of Jesse to be the next King of Israel, Jesse had many sons and Samuel was not sure which of them the next king was. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7 – But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” So God looks at the heart, he looks at the motive, not at the physical appearance. Let me mention to you that many people are pretenders, they will never tell you what they really think. They just present to the world what the world expects from them, but within them they know that they are something entirely different. Somebody can tell you they love you, but they do not show it by actions, so that love is mere words their motive of telling you they love you is just to get something from you.
Let me further illustrate the power of using motive in decision making.
16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, [a]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. 19 This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” 22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But [b]the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.
24 The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for[e]she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” 27 Then the king said, “Give [f]the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.
So Solomon knew that a real mother of a child will rather lose her child than kill him. So he used motive to identify the child’s mother and made a wise decision.
Beloved ask God to give you wisdom to understand the motive or reason behind any matter. However do not be suspicious of everyone, unnecessarily suspicious can lead to false accusation which is also a sin.
Have a blessed day.
