Philippians 1:15 (NLT) It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives.
Not everything good is actually good.
Not everyone good is actually good.
Not everything good done is for good.
What’s actually good, and who’s actually good is shown by motive.
When a person is good, does, or gives something good but with a wrong or impure motive then that person actually shows himself to be evil, a doer and giver of evil.
When the serpent told Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and reasoned to her that they would be like God knowing good and evil, that sounded and seemed good.See- Genesis 3:5 Moreover Eve saw the tree that it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Genesis 3:6
But the motive of the serpent was to lead Adam and Eve to destruction and death.
Only God can identify and reveal motive because it lies in the heart.
1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 (NLT) For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.
God in His Word has identified and revealed to us what pure motives are.
In this Scripture above the Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonian brethren that he and his ministry team took the Gospel to Thessalonica with the purpose of pleasing God. That was a pure motive of their heart and that God who examines the hearts was their witness. Paul says he and his team were not pretending to be friends with the Thessalonian believers in order to get their money. That would be an impure motive.
Then Paul also says they never sought human praise. The opposite of human praise is the praise that God alone gives. So it’s a pure motive when in all that we be, do or give our focus is not on men accepting, appreciating, approving or praising us but rather on God doing it.
