Motives

Every person ought to have a mental motive sheet guiding private and public thought and action.  That motive sheet ought to be open information to anyone interested in it.  It ought to be guided by some verifiable documentation and/or idealism to give it force, and relate to cause related to: who we are and how we will function – or be expected to function.  Even for the most sincere person there will occur, on some occasions, violations of the self-agreed-upon motivations.  This may appear from fear (like that of Peter at the fire in his temporary denial of Jesus); from dysfunction related perhaps to illness or decrepitude or suffering (perceived even in Jesus on the cross crying out that he felt forsaken of the Father in the cry of the human Jesus related to his deity); from conditioning (like that which must have weighed on Demas who was reported by the Apostle Paul to have gone back to love for this present world).  The illustrations are many.  For right and proper motives to win in an individual there is need for maturation, perceived in spiritual context as a growth process in the right direction, sometimes visited with benefits before their time.  One’s own evaluation of self is partly related in the conscious (conscience) that our thoughts and actions are serving for the needs (sustenance) and benefits (good) of others sometimes to extensive personal expense, perhaps life.  This was illustrated forcefully to me when I heard the story of a lad whose older sister would die without a blood transfusion, and the blood type could not be found in time to rescue her.  The small lad was the only one that had the same blood type.  The doctor approved the brother as a donor, limiting the blood to be taken – enough to save sister.  When asked if he would accept the procedure, the boy asked for a little time to think about it, and pray about it.  Granted, of course, he reported a couple of hours later for the procedure, and it was done.  Later in the afternoon he asked his mother when he was going to die.  She assured him that he wasn’t dying, and asked a reason for his question.  He said that he had read that life was in the blood, that he told God he was willing to die for his sister so submitted to the transfusion, believing all the while that he would be giving up his life for his sister.  There were smiles all around, but they all knew down deep that in this instance the motive of sacrificial love had motivated this young brother.

There are many stories and studies about motives, and that they are commonly self-serving, or on the margin, or clearly selfish, perhaps to loss, sometimes extensive of other persons.  We fudge ourselves along, and may learn processes that seem to work for us that cloud the horizons of our lives, and can become devastating to self and reputation decades later.  For years Bernie Madoff enriched himself and others in a Ponzi scheme.  His firm began well enough with investors, investments, dividends and benefits.  Then he discovered that he could leap into the higher elevations of the personal riches, by retaining the investment funds, paying the dividends from the income gained from new investors and retaining the remainder for personal wealth that provided the life of a potentate in the world.  At last the dividends became more costly than new investments received.  Millions upon millions of dollars in indebtedness fell upon Madoff’s company.  It was unable to carry the mountain of debt.  Investors lost massive fortunes, Madoff went to prison; a son committed suicide; a wife bereft and a family feeling disgrace was adrift; and, a system of legitimate business betrayed was only the beginning of the selfish, greedy motivation.  There was enough embarrassment to go around, including the government that failed in its monitoring to reveal the criminality.  Authorities are seeking regulations for the future.

Scriptural principles address the affirmations of life, casting them both in affirmative (objective) and negative (subjective) principles – so as to leave no doubt about meaning.  On a higher level, society would like to rest the performance of the affirmations in the motivations of persons learning and choosing the right (righteous) meaning for conduct and progression for the benefit of all concerned.  Negations of conduct, implying the affirmative, are rested in laws: Thou shalt not bear false witness, or Thou shalt not kill.  The affirmatives of these two are: Always tell the truth, and: Always respect human life.  Negatives relate to laws: affirmatives relate to principles for free peoples to adopt and practice always.  The negatives are enforced by legal procedures – to yes and no for points.  Affirmatives are given force from God’s nature.