Right Heart Motives

“It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.  The motive is everything.  Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. A. W. Tozer

“What if we all understood our identity to revolve less around what we do than Who has called us to do it?”

Ryen Denison

Anthony Rendon is the third baseman for the Washington Nationals.  Because of his successful season, he is one of the contenders for Most Valuable Player.  The Nationals defeated the Brewers, with Rendon scoring the winning run.  Next, they won over the Dodgers and then the Cardinals to earn their spot in the 2019 World Series.  Although this has been one of Anthony Rendon’s best seasons, his desire is to be in a position to bring God glory in all that he does.  “You want to play for the future.  But I’ve come to learn your plans don’t always come to fruition.  Obviously, with my faith, too, I don’t want to seem like it’s all about me, me, me.  It takes away from what I do for Him, for the Lord.  I want to be known as a Christian baseball player and I’m still trying to grow into that.  But in the end, I want to be more Christian than baseball player.”

Jose Altuve plays second base for the Houston Astros.  His homerun ensured the Astros of another trip to the World Series.  Whenever interviewed, Altuve is quick to give credit to God and his teammates.  Even when he could have basked in the glory of his homerun hit, he reminded people, “We’re not going to the World Series because of me.  We’re going to the World Series because of every guy in that clubhouse.”  Altuve also thanked Springer for taking the walk and extending the inning.  When interviewed Jose replied, “I grew up in a family that always told me that to achieve success, we needed to have God first.  To achieve success wasn’t to get to the major leagues or have the best season in the world.  The best success is to live your life the way God wants you to.  If you can do that, if you can be good with God, then I think you will have success in your life.”  Altuve continued, “I grew up in a family that always believed in God.  And I feel like, every morning when you wake up, you have to thank Him for just another day.  I do it every day.”  Altuve also made it a point to show respect to his wife.  Two years ago, Jose’s shirt was ripped off after winning the series.  This year he made sure to mention that it upset his wife and he didn’t want it done again.  In a matter of just a few minutes, Altuve honored his God, wife, and teammates.

Whether in word or deed, may our motive and desire always be to bring God glory and honor in whatever we do.

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.”

I Samuel 16:7

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

Hurricane Helpers

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.’”  ~ Fred Rogers

Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, spent days hovering over the Bahamas causing major destruction with wind and rain before traveling and making landfall on the outer banks of North Carolina.  Other parts of the country were also challenged with the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian.  And the helpers came.

Jermaine Bell, 6 years old, lives in South Carolina.  After seeing the destruction caused by the hurricane, he decided to use the money he had earned and was saving to go to Disney World to help the people in his community.  Jermaine bought chips, hot dogs, and water to give to the evacuees as they were heading to higher ground.  He made a sign to let people know about the free food.  Jermaine fed about 100 evacuees.  He told a reporter from WJBF, “The people that are traveling to go places, I wanted them to have some food to eat, so they can enjoy the ride to the place that they’re going to stay at.”   Jermaine even prayed for a family that their house would still be there and OK when they returned.

Rikki Kahley’s Bride-to-be-bachelorette party was scheduled to be in the Bahamas.  After Hurricane Dorian hit, Rikki called the Nassau Baha Mar resort and found that they had weathered the storm and were still open for business.  Kahley’s sister Chloe, 17, suggested that they try to help the people while they were there.  Thus, the bachelorette party turned into a mission trip.  The bride and bridesmaids contacted family and friends for donations to take with them.  As the day came to depart from the Atlanta International Airport, the nine women and their 40 suitcases left for the Bahamas.  Delta Airlines allowed the extra luggage to be carried for free.  The people at the resort had already set up a foundation to distribute supplies to the neighboring islands.  Baha Mar provided transportation for the group and the supplies that were brought.  There was also around $1800 in cash donations to purchase blowup mattresses and other much needed supplies to give to the people who had evacuated to Nassau.  A little boy also sent a suitcase full of toys.  Rikki and her bridesmaids helped make a very difficult time better by their thoughtfulness and gifts.

Whether it’s a storm caused by nature or a personal storm, may we, too, be willing to share of our time, effort, and resources to help lighten the load for others.

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Acts 20:35

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:22